Background: The past few years have witnessed a significant increase in research related to plant-derived extracellular vesicles (PDEVs) in biological and medical applications. Using biochemical technologies, multiple independent groups have demonstrated the important roles of PDEVs as potential mediators involved in cell-cell communication and the exchange of bio-information between species. Recently, several contents have been well identified in PDEVs, including nucleic acids, proteins, lipids, and other active substances. These cargoes carried by PDEVs could be transferred into recipient cells and remarkably influence their biological behaviors associated with human diseases, such as cancers and inflammatory diseases. This review summarizes the latest updates regarding PDEVs and focuses on its important role in nanomedicine applications, as well as the potential of PDEVs as drug delivery strategies to develop diagnostic and therapeutic agents for the clinical management of diseases, especially like cancers.
Conclusion: Considering its unique advantages, especially high stability, intrinsic bioactivity and easy absorption, further elaboration on molecular mechanisms and biological factors driving the function of PDEVs will provide new horizons for the treatment of human disease.
Keywords: Cancer; Cell-cell communication; Human diseases; Nanomedicine; Plant-derived extracellular vesicles.
© 2023. The Author(s).