Therapeutic implications of exosomes in the treatment of radiation injury

Shijie Dai; Yuzhong Wen; Peng Luo; Le Ma; Yunsheng Liu; Junhua Ai; Chunmeng Shi

doi:10.1093/burnst/tkab043

Therapeutic implications of exosomes in the treatment of radiation injury

Burns Trauma. 2022 Jan 21:10:tkab043. doi: 10.1093/burnst/tkab043. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Shijie Dai¹, Yuzhong Wen¹, Peng Luo², Le Ma², Yunsheng Liu², Junhua Ai², Chunmeng Shi²

Affiliations

¹ Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Institute of Digestive Surgery, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, China.
² Institute of Rocket Force Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns and Combined Injury, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China.

Abstract

Radiotherapy is one of the main cancer treatments, but it may damage normal tissue and cause various side effects. At present, radioprotective agents used in clinics have side effects such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and hypotension, which limit their clinical application. It has been found that exosomes play an indispensable role in radiation injury. Exosomes are lipid bilayer vesicles that carry various bioactive substances, such as proteins, lipids and microRNA (miRNA), that play a key role in cell-to-cell communication and affect tissue injury and repair. In addition, studies have shown that radiation can increase the uptake of exosomes in cells and affect the composition and secretion of exosomes. Here, we review the existing studies and discuss the effects of radiation on exosomes and the role of exosomes in radiation injury, aiming to provide new insights for the treatment of radiation injury.

Keywords: Exosome; Radiation injury; Treatment.

Publication types

Review