The Role of Exosomes Containing Toxic Proteins in the Pathological Propagation of Neurodegenera-tive Diseases
Exosomes are a subtype of extracellular vesicles derived from endosomes and released by membrane fusion and exocytosis.Exosome-mediated intercellular communication plays a criti-cal role in multiple physiological and pathological processes.Due to their low immunogenicity and ability to mediate long-distance transport of bioactive substances,exosomes are considered ideal biological carriers for drugs.Engineered exosomes can improve the targeting of drug delivery,making research on exosome-based drug delivery exceedingly promising.However,some studies have indicated that exosomes can facilitate pathological processes in diseased organisms.For in-stance,exosomes secreted by tumor cells can"mislead"immune cells or establish a favorable mi-croenvironment,thus promoting tumor proliferation and migration.In neurodegenerative disea-ses,exosomes exacerbate the disease by promoting inflammatory responses and the spread of pathogenic proteins.This article reviews the development and pathological propagation of neuro-degenerative diseases mediated by exosomes carrying toxic pathogenic proteins,offering new insights into the occurrence and development of neurodegenerative diseases,as well as cautions and recommendations for exosome engineering and clinical applications.