Therapeutic application of mesenchymal stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles in radiation injury: research status, challenges, and prospects

Radiation injury treatment represents a longstanding scientific challenge in radiotherapy research and an urgent medical problem. As the number of cancer patients in China increases, so does the number of radiotherapy recipients and the frequency of treatments. Concurrently, nuclear accidents continue to occur. Under these circumstances, public attention is increasingly focused on various types of radiation-induced bodily damage. However, the multifaceted damaging effects of radiation impede the activation of organ regeneration responses. With the deepening research on mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and their extracellular vesicles (EVs), accumulating evidence suggests that Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles (MSC-EVs) are ideal candidates for cell-free therapy of radiation injury. In recent years, MSC-EVs have become a hot research topic in the biomedical field, and more and more studies have proven that they are excellent nanocarriers. Although significant gaps remain in understanding the therapeutic mechanisms of MSC-EVs for radiation injury repair, current research achievements sufficiently demonstrate their application value in treating radiation damage. Therefore, this paper summarizes and discusses recent advancements to provide new insights into cell-free EV therapy for radiation injury. Therapeutic Potential of MSC-EVs in Multi-Organ Radiation Injury. (A). The source, generation process, and content of MSCs; (B). The characteristics and functions of MSC-EVs; (C). The application of MSC-EVs in radiation-induced diseases. (Created with BioGDP.com 150 ).