REVIEW article

Front. Pharmacol.

Sec. Experimental Pharmacology and Drug Discovery

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1485769

This article is part of the Research TopicExtracellular Vesicles in Disease Therapy: Harnessing Diverse Origins for Advanced TreatmentsView all 5 articles

Exosomes as natural vectors for therapeutic delivery of bioactive compounds in skin diseases

Provisionally accepted
Somayeh KeshtkarSomayeh Keshtkar1Haniyeh NajafiHaniyeh Najafi2Mozhdeh HeidariMozhdeh Heidari3Maryam KavianiMaryam Kaviani3Fatemeh Sabet SarvestaniFatemeh Sabet Sarvestani3Zahra AsvarZahra Asvar4Alimohammad TamaddonAlimohammad Tamaddon2Maryam Sadat SadatiMaryam Sadat Sadati1Nasrin HamidizadehNasrin Hamidizadeh1Negar AzarpiraNegar Azarpira3*
  • 1Molecular Dermatology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Fars, Iran
  • 2Department of Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
  • 3Shiraz Transplant Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
  • 4Nanotechnology School of Advanced Medical Sciences and Technologies, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences,, Shiraz, Iran

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Skin diseases are a broad category of diseases and each has complex conditions, which makes it challenging for dermatologists to provide targeted treatment. Exosomes are natural vesicles secreted by cells and play a key role in cell communication. Due to their unique characteristics, including inherent stability, minimal immunogenicity, high biocompatibility, and exceptional ability to penetrate cells, exosomes are being explored as potential delivery vehicles for therapeutics across various diseases including skin problems. Utilizing exosomes for drug delivery in skin diseases can improve treatment outcomes and reduce the side effects of traditional drug delivery methods. Indeed, exosomes can be engineered or utilized as an innovative approach to deliver therapeutic agents such as small molecule drugs, genes, or proteins specifically to affected skin cells. In addition to targeting specific skin cells or tissues, these engineered exosome-based nanocarriers can reduce off-target effects and improve drug efficacy. Hence, this article highlights the transformative potential of this technology in revolutionizing drug delivery in dermatology and improving patient outcomes.

Keywords: Exosomes, delivery, Skin Diseases, drug, genetic agent, protein

Received: 24 Aug 2024; Accepted: 07 Apr 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Keshtkar, Najafi, Heidari, Kaviani, Sabet Sarvestani, Asvar, Tamaddon, Sadati, Hamidizadeh and Azarpira. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Negar Azarpira, Shiraz Transplant Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material