中国组织工程研究 ›› 2026, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (31): 8210-8218.doi: 10.12307/2026.437

• 干细胞综述 stem cell review • 上一篇    下一篇

细胞外囊泡作为基因治疗载体:工程化策略、机制优势及临床应用

张恩祈1,吴宏伟1,巫成良1,杨天琪1,唐伟杰1,王雯慧1,于泽铭1,张艳文2,王悦冰1,3   

  1. 南开大学,1医学院,2生命科学学院,天津市   300071;3南开大学附属第一中心医院,天津市   300192
  • 收稿日期:2025-11-06 接受日期:2026-01-29 出版日期:2026-11-08 发布日期:2026-05-25
  • 通讯作者: 王悦冰,博士,教授,南开大学医学院,天津市 300071;南开大学附属第一中心医院,天津市 300192
  • 作者简介:张恩祈,女,2004年生,甘肃省永登县人,汉族,南开大学临床医学专业本科在读,主要从事工程化细胞外囊泡改善心血管疾病的研究。
  • 基金资助:
    国家自然科学基金面上项目(32371426),项目负责人:王悦冰;天津市自然科学基金重点项目(24JCZDJC01380),项目负责人:王悦冰;南开大学移植医学研究院自主立项基金(NKTM2023005),项目负责人:王悦冰;2024年南开大学“国家级大学生创新创业训练计划”(202410055093),指导教师:王悦冰

Extracellular vesicles as gene therapy vectors: engineering strategies, mechanistic advantages, and clinical applications

Zhang Enqi1, Wu Hongwei1, Wu Chengliang1, Yang Tianqi1, Tang Weijie1, Wang Wenhui1, Yu Zeming1, Zhang Yanwen2, Wang Yuebing1, 3   

  1. 1Nankai University School of Medicine, Tianjin 300071, China; 2College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China; 3First Central Hospital, Nankai University, Tianjin 300192, China 
  • Received:2025-11-06 Accepted:2026-01-29 Online:2026-11-08 Published:2026-05-25
  • Contact: Wang Yuebing, MD, Professor, Nankai University School of Medicine, Tianjin 300071, China; First Central Hospital, Nankai University, Tianjin 300192, China
  • About author:Zhang Enqi, Nankai University School of Medicine, Tianjin 300071, China
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 32371426 (to WYB); Tianjin Natural Science Foundation, No. 24JCZDJC01380 (to WYB); Independent Research Project Fund of Institute of Transplant Medicine of Nankai University, No. NKTM2023005 (to WYB); 2024 Nankai University “National Undergraduate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program”, No. 202410055093 (to WYB)

摘要:

文题释义:

细胞外囊泡:是由细胞主动分泌的磷脂双分子层囊泡,在细胞间通讯中具有重要作用,参与调节多种生理与病理过程。根据生物发生机制及粒径差异,细胞外囊泡主要分为:外泌体(40-100 nm)、微囊泡( > 100-1 000 nm)和凋亡小体(50-5 000 nm)。细胞外囊泡通过选择性递送蛋白质、核酸、脂质等生物活性分子,实现靶细胞功能的精准调控。细胞外囊泡表面富集四跨膜蛋白(如CD9/CD63)、整合素等靶向黏附分子,内部腔室通过磷脂双分子层稳定封装核酸等大分子,提供天然抗酶解保护,并支持高效跨越血脑屏障等。基于上述天然递送优势,通过工程化改造可进一步强化细胞外囊泡的靶向精准性及载物效率,使细胞外囊泡成为极具前景的基因治疗递送平台。
基因治疗:是指将外源正常基因序列导入靶细胞,取代患者体内的缺陷DNA序列,纠正或补偿因基因缺陷和异常引起的疾病,从而达到治疗目的。该技术在遗传性疾病、恶性肿瘤及自身免疫性疾病等难治性疾病中已证实治疗潜力。对于传统疗法难治的疾病,基因治疗提供了新的治疗选择。

摘要
背景:基因治疗为遗传性疾病及恶性肿瘤等难治性疾病提供了创新疗法,然而传统递送载体(如病毒载体和脂质纳米颗粒)存在显著局限:高免疫原性、有限载荷能力、生物屏障穿透效率低及靶向特异性不足。细胞外囊泡凭借独特的跨生物屏障能力(包括血脑屏障)、对核酸与蛋白质等生物活性分子的多功能载货特性,以及固有的低免疫原性和优异生物相容性,有效克服上述瓶颈,成为极具前景的非病毒基因递送平台。
目的:系统综述细胞外囊泡作为新型基因递送载体的工程化策略、机制优势及临床应用研究进展,阐明细胞外囊泡临床转化挑战与未来发展方向,以促进细胞外囊泡在基因治疗领域作为非病毒载体的创新应用。
方法:以“extracellular vesicles,gene therapy,drug delivery systems,loading strategies,targeted therapy”作为主题词结合同义词检索PubMed数据库相关文献,同时结合文献追踪的方法,最终纳入符合要求的107篇文献进行综述。

结果与结论:①细胞外囊泡具备递送多类生物活性分子的固有特性,包括信使RNA、小干扰RNA、脱氧核糖核酸及功能性蛋白质,通过调控受体细胞基因表达与蛋白功能,为精准基因治疗提供新型递送平台;②通过内源性策略(供体细胞基因改造等)与外源性策略(分离后物理/化学修饰等)的系统性工程化改造,可显著提升细胞外囊泡对治疗性分子的装载效率与载量稳定性,克服天然细胞外囊泡载药能力不足的局限;③经靶向配体(如肽段、抗体片段)及表面稳定性修饰(如CD47过表达)的工程化细胞外囊泡,能有效增强病灶组织特异性富集、延长体内循环半衰期并降低系统清除率,为拓展临床转化应用奠定基础。

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6988-0788 (王悦冰) 


中国组织工程研究杂志出版内容重点:干细胞;骨髓干细胞;造血干细胞;脂肪干细胞;肿瘤干细胞;胚胎干细胞;脐带脐血干细胞;干细胞诱导;干细胞分化;组织工程

关键词: 细胞外囊泡, 基因治疗, 药物递送, 药物负载, 靶向治疗

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Gene therapy offers novel therapeutic prospects for refractory diseases including genetic disorders and malignancies. However, conventional delivery vectors (such as viral vectors and lipid nanoparticles) exhibit significant limitations: high immunogenicity, constrained loading capacity, poor penetration across biological barriers, and insufficient targeting specificity. Extracellular vesicles, with their unique ability to cross biological barriers (including the blood-brain barrier), their multifunctional cargo characteristics for bioactive molecules such as nucleic acids and proteins, and their inherent low immunogenicity and excellent biocompatibility, effectively overcome these bottlenecks, making them a highly promising non-viral gene delivery platform.
OBJECTIVE: To summarize the engineering strategies, mechanism advantages, and clinical application research progress of extracellular vesicles as novel gene delivery vectors, clarify the clinical transformation challenges and future development directions, and promote the innovative application of extracellular vesicles as non-viral vectors in the field of gene therapy.
METHODS: Using "extracellular vesicles, gene therapy, drug delivery systems, loading strategies, targeted therapy" as the subject term and synonyms to search the PubMed database, and combining the method of literature tracking, 107 articles that met the requirements were finally included for the review.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) Extracellular vesicles possess the inherent property of delivering various bioactive molecules, including messenger RNA, small interfering RNA, deoxyribonucleic acid and functional proteins. By regulating the gene expression and protein function of recipient cells, they provide a novel delivery platform for precise gene therapy. (2) Through systematic engineering modifications using endogenous strategies (genetic modification of donor cells) and exogenous strategies (physical/chemical modifications after isolation), the loading efficiency and stability of therapeutic molecules in extracellular vesicles can be significantly enhanced, overcoming the limitation of insufficient drug loading capacity of natural extracellular vesicles. (3) Engineered extracellular vesicles modified with targeting ligands (such as peptides and antibody fragments) and surface stability modifications (such as overexpression of CD47) can effectively enhance the specific enrichment in lesion tissues, prolong the half-life in the body and reduce the systemic clearance rate, laying the foundation for expanding their clinical application.

Key words: extracellular vesicles, gene therapy, drug delivery, drug loading, targeted therapy

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