Development and Application of Mesenchymal Stem Cell-derived Exosomes in Cartilage Tissue Repair

Cartilage defects treatment is one of the most common clinical challenges in orthopedics. The current management techniques help to control symptom and joint function. The cell-free approach to cartilage regeneration through paracrine action has been considered to accelerate and facilitate the healing process and the importance of its urgency in the recovery of military personnel. Exosomes, one of these paracrine mediators, are nanoscale extracellular vesicles.

An electronic search was performed on databases at PubMed and EMBASE with keywords such as stem cells, exosome cartilage and reconstructive medicine since 2000 to 2021.

Functional cargos like miRNA and mRNA molecules, peptides, proteins, cytokines and lipids are transferred by exosomes from MSCs to the recipient cells. The use of exosomes as a cell-free method without creating an immune response can be promising in the treatment of joint diseases.

It has been found that exosomes are involved in intercellular communication events and due to their similarity to the plasma membrane, the lack of activation of the immune system and the secretion of large numbers of cells can be an important factor in the healing of damaged tissues and organs. Exosomes can also be used as a safe, high-availability treatment for the treatment of osteoartritis disease.