Extracellular Vesicles as Innovative Treatment Strategy for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Abstract

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive and fatal motor neuron degenerative disease, and it is hard to diagnose in the early stage, and treatment means are limited, and the treatment effect is unsatisfactory. Therefore, exploring a new effective treatment strategy is urgently needed for ALS patients. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are a heterogeneous group of natural membrane vesicles containing many bioactive substances, and they play important roles in the paracrine pathway and exhibit neuroprotection effects. A growing body of evidence shows that EVs have great application potential in diagnosis, treatment, and drug delivery in ALS, and they represent an innovative treatment strategy for ALS. In this review, we will briefly introduce the biogenesis of EVs and focus on discussing the role of EVs in ALS treatment to further enrich and boost the development of EVs as an innovative treatment strategy for ALS.

Keywords: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; exosome-mimics; extracellular vesicles; plant EVs; treatment strategy.