Food-Derived Extracellular Vesicles Enable Oral Liver-Targeted Delivery of Curcumin for Acute Liver Failure

Oral delivery of water-repelling drugs for acute liver failure (ALF) often runs into problems like poor solubility, instability, and low absorption. In this work, we found that extracellular vesicles derived from honey (HEVs) can serve as a natural nanocarrier that works orally and targets the liver on its own. After isolating and characterizing these vesicles, we saw they are membrane-bound nanoparticles roughly 160 nm in size with a surface charge around -32 mV, and they contain proteins and RNAs. Oral HEVs mainly ended up in the liver and showed some anti-inflammatory activity without any drug loaded. To get better therapeutic effects, we loaded curcumin (Cur), a hydrophobic anti-inflammatory compound, into HEVs to make Cur@HEVs. These loaded vesicles greatly improved how well curcumin is absorbed and released in a sustained manner. In acetaminophen (APAP) caused ALF mice, oral Cur@HEVs improved liver function and survival much more than plain curcumin or empty HEVs did. Specifically, Cur@HEVs simultaneously put the brakes on pyroptosis (via the NLRP3/GSDMD/caspase-1 route) and necroptosis (through the RIPK1/RIPK3/MLKL pathway), which in turn cut down the release of inflammatory cytokines and kept liver cells from dying. Overall, HEVs come across as a safe, food-based nanocarrier that can be taken orally, and Cur@HEVs offer a bioactive platform for dually targeting inflammatory cell death in ALF. Our findings suggest that dietary extracellular vesicles warrant further investigation as potential therapeutic biomaterials, though additional translational studies are needed.