Extracellular vesicles for ophthalmic and dermal ailments

The delivery of peptides across the human eye and skin for disease treatment is challenging due to the presence of the outermost barrier, cornea, and stratum corneum, which are mainly composed of tight junction lipids with a thickness of 10–30µm and 540–560µm, respectively. Various strategies including active and passive approaches have been implemented over the years for enhanced delivery of drug molecules. Extracellular vesicles are low immunogenic, stable, and able to cross biological barriers, which have made them potential carriers favoring the delivery of small and large molecular drugs. These nanovesicles have sizes ranging from 30 to 150nm. Exosomes have been shown to deliver various therapeutic molecules such as curcumin, paclitaxel, doxorubicin, small interfering RNA, microRNAs (miRNAs), and hyaluronidase for the amelioration of various skin ailments. Microneedle (MN) patch is the emerging paradigm to efficiently deliver bioactive payloads. Systemic delivery of drugs can be achieved by the application of micron-sized dissolvable MNs, a minimally invasive approach that offers a painless delivery. Taken together, the fusion of microneedles with exosomes containing bioactive substances such as proteins, DNA, RNA, long noncoding RNA, miRNA, circular RNA proteins, and signaling lipids can be a potential alternative to counteract various ophthalmic and dermal infections.