Intranasal Exosomes for Treatment of Neuroinflammation?: Prospects and Limitations

• Published in: Molecular therapy Vol. 19; no. 10; pp. 1754 - 1756
• Main Authors: Lakhal, Samira, Wood, Matthew JA
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.10.2011; Elsevier Limited; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: Anatomy & physiology; Animals; Anti-Inflammatory Agents - therapeutic use; Brain research; Cells; Disease; Drug Carriers; Encephalomyelitis; Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental - drug therapy; Exosomes; Humans; Medical research; Nervous system; Physiology; Proteins; United Kingdom > UK
• ISSN: 1525-0016; 1525-0024; 1525-0024
• DOI: 10.1038/mt.2011.198

Brain inflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, viral encephalitis, and bacterial meningitis, as well as other central nervous system conditions with an inflammatory component (e.g., schizophrenia, migraine headaches, and neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases), are the subject of extensive translational research to develop therapies addressing the underlying inflammation. Microglial cells-the brain's resident macrophages-have been shown to contribute significantly to inflammation in these diseases by producing the inflammatory interleukins IL-1 and IL-6 and are therefore ideal targets for anti-inflammatory therapies. Unfortunately, there is a lack of suitable delivery strategies that specifically target brain microglial cells. However, in this issue of Molecular Therapy, Zhuang et al. describe the use of exosomes to deliver anti-inflammatory drugs to the brain through a noninvasive intranasal route.[1] The therapeutic value of this approach was demonstrated with exosome-complexed curcumin in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation and experimental allergic encephalomyelitis and with an exosome-complexed Stat3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 3) inhibitor in a glioblastoma tumor model.