Extracellular Vesicles and Degenerative Diseases: Role in Both Diagnosis and Therapeutics

Dear Colleagues,

Degenerative diseases which worsen the structure and function of the affected organs have been a major healthcare burden worldwide due to their associated mortality and morbidity. Degenerative diseases can affect various parts of the body, including the brain, bones, liver, and kidney. Currently, there are no effective treatment regimens available for degenerative diseases. In recent years, stem cell therapy has made remarkable progress in research and regenerative medicine for a variety of disorders. In-depth research has revealed that paracrine effects of the stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs)/Exosomes, play major role in the reported reduction in degenerative diseases. The advantages of stem cell-derived EVs over stem cells themselves, such as lower tumorigenicity and immunological responses, make them a preferable therapeutic approach. In the case of degenerative diseases, early detection is critical for disease prevention and therapy. EVs contain proteins, lipids, microRNA (miRNA), and RNA, and are found in biological fluids, such as urine, blood, and cerebrospinal fluid, which varies depending on their origin and recipient cells. EVs have been discovered to communicate with other cells under a variety of healthy and pathological situations. Evs/Exosomes, therefore, are used as a source of biomarker for early disease diagnosis in many degenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. This emerging approach of using EVs in both diagnosis and treatment for various diseases needs further exploration. Therefore, in this Special Issue we will focus on the recent advances in the field of EVs in both diagnosis and treatment of degenerative diseases.

Dr. Julie Bejoy
Guest Editor

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