Exosome‑mediated repair of spinal cord injury: a promising therapeutic strategy

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a catastrophic injury to the central nervous system (CNS) that can lead to sensory and motor dysfunction, which seriously affects patients’ quality of life and imposes a major economic burden on society. Exosomes, which are extracellular vesicles of endoplasmic origin with a diameter of 30–150 nm, play a critical role in intercellular communication and have become an ideal vehicle for drug delivery. A growing body of evidence suggests that exosomes have great potential for repairing SCI.

• 1
  NSCs-Exos promoted neural regeneration by regulating miR-219a-2-3p to repair the SCI.
• 2
  SCs-Exos could promote angiogenesis through the upregulation of integrin-β1, inhibit neuronal apoptosis through the modulation of the EGFR/Akt/mTOR pathway, and affect the anti-inflammatory response through the modulation of the SOCS3/STAT3 pathway, which improved the recovery effect of motor function after SCI.
• 3
  M2 macrophage-derived exosomes (M2-Exos) were able to activate the HIF-1/VEGF signalling pathway to promote neovascularization and thus play a role in repairing SCI.