Exosome Formulation Developed to Deliver Antibodies for Ocular Neovascularization Therapy; “Technology Is Novel and Treatment Efficacy Is Impressive,” Reviewer States

Researchers from the Institute of Process Engineering (IPE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital and the University of Queensland (Australia) have developed a new formulation based on regulatory T-cell exosomes (rEXS) to deliver vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) antibodies for choroidal neovascularization therapy. The study was published online in Nature Biomedical Engineering on July 26, 2021. The article is titled “Reduction of Choroidal Neovascularization Via Cleavable VEGF Antibodies Conjugated to Exosomes Derived from Regulatory T Cells.” Ocular neovascularization is often associated with age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and other ocular diseases, which can cause severe vision loss. The present treatment for ocular neovascular disease in clinic is intravitreal injection of VEGF antibodies (aV) to block the activity of VEGF and suppress pathogenic angiogenesis. However, this therapy alone faces problems of fast metabolism with the aqueous humor, poor accumulation in lesions, and limited efficacy. A considerable proportion of patients still show incomplete response to above aV treatment.