Mesenchymal Stem Cells-Derived Exosomes as Dexamethasone Delivery Vehicles for Autoimmune Hepatitis Therapy

Jiawei Zhao; Yue Li; Rongrong Jia; Jinghui Wang; Min Shi; Yugang Wang

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2021.650376

Mesenchymal Stem Cells-Derived Exosomes as Dexamethasone Delivery Vehicles for Autoimmune Hepatitis Therapy

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2021 Mar 30:9:650376. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2021.650376. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Jiawei Zhao^{1

2}, Yue Li^{1

3}, Rongrong Jia¹, Jinghui Wang¹, Min Shi¹, Yugang Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Gastroenterology, Tongren Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
² School of Medicine, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China.
³ School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Exosomes (Exos) are nanosized vesicles (around 100 nm) that recently serve as a promising drug carrier with high biocompatibility and low immunogenicity. Previous studies showed that Exos secreted from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) provide protection for concanavalin A (Con A)-induced liver injury. In this study, the protective effect of Exos is confirmed, and dexamethasone (DEX)-incorporated Exos named Exo@DEX are prepared. It is then investigated whether Exo@DEX can function more efficiently compared to free drugs and naive Exos in a Con A-induced autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) mouse model. The results show that Exo@DEX efficiently improves the accumulation of DEX in AIH in the liver. These data suggest that Exo@DEX is a promising drug carrier for AIH and could have applications in other diseases.

Keywords: autoimmune hepatitis; delivery; dexamethasone; exosomes; mesenchymal stem cells.