Bacterial extracellular vesicles: Understanding biology promotes applications as nanopharmaceuticals

Extracellular vesicle (EV)-mediated communication between proximal and distant cells is a highly con-served characteristic in all of the life domains, including bacteria. These vesicles that contain a variety of biomolecules, such as proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and small-molecule metabolites play a key role in the biology of bacteria. They are one of the key underlying mechanisms behind harmful or beneficial effects of many pathogenic, symbiont, and probiotic bacteria. These nanoscale EVs mediate extensive crosstalk with mammalian cells and deliver their cargos to the host. They are stable in physiological con-dition, can encapsulate diverse biomolecules and nanoparticles, and their surface could be engineered with available technologies. Based on favorable characteristics of bacterial vesicles, they can be harnessed for designing a diverse range of therapeutics and diagnostics for treatment of disorders including tumors and resistant infections. However, technical limitations for their production, purification, and character-ization must be addressed in future studies. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Bacterial vesicles mediate communication between cells containing various biomolecules. They have the potential for designing diverse therapeutic and diagnostic methods, but technical limitations must be addressed for production, purification, and characterization.