Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane vesicles released into the extracellular milieu by cells of various origins. They contain different biological cargoes, protecting them from degradation by environmental factors. There is an opinion that EVs have a number of advantages over synthetic carriers, creating new opportunities for drug delivery. In this review, we discuss the ability of EVs to function as carriers for therapeutic nucleic acids (tNAs), challenges associated with the use of such carriers in vivo, and various strategies for tNA loading into EVs.
Keywords: apoptotic bodies; drug delivery; ectosomes; exosomes; extracellular vesicles; intraluminal vesicles; microvesicles; multivesicular body; nanocarrier; nucleic acid therapeutics.