Edible plant-derived nanotherapeutics and nanocarriers: recent progress and future directions

ABSTRACT

Introduction

High drug delivery efficiency, desirable therapeutic effects, and low toxicity have become crucial to develop nanotherapeutics. Natural nanoparticles (NPs) from edible plants contain a large quantity of bioactive small molecules, proteins, glycolipids, and microRNAs. The development of these NPs has rapidly attracted increasing attention due to their merits of green production, excellent biocompatibility, anti-inflammatory activities, and antitumor capacities.

Areas covered

Here, we introduce the extraction, purification, and construction strategies of plant-derived exosome-like NPs (PDENs) and expound on their physicochemical properties, biomedical functions, and therapeutic effects against various diseases. We also recapitulate future directions and challenges of the emerging nanotherapeutics.

Expert opinion

PDENs have been used as natural nanotherapeutics and nanocarriers. The challenges of applying PDENs primarily stem from the lack of understanding of the mechanisms that drive the tissue-specific targeting properties. Elucidating the underlying targeting mechanisms is one of the major focuses in this review, which helps to gain new research opportunities for the development of natural nanotherapeutics. Despite excellent biosafety and therapeutic effects in the treatment of various diseases, the medical translation of these NPs has still been limited by low yields and cold-chain dependence. Therefore, exploiting new techniques will be required for their massive production and storage.

KEYWORDS:

• Plant-derived exosome-like nanoparticle
• targeted drug delivery
• green production
• inflammatory disease
• cancer

Article highlights

• Plant-derived exosome-like nanoparticles (PDENs) have numerous advantages, including biocompatibility, green production, and excellent stability in the gastrointestinal tract and circulatory system.

• PDENs contain abundant bioactive ingredients (e.g. polyphenol, functional proteins, glycolipid, and microRNA).

• The surface saccharide groups endow these nanoparticles with immune cell- and tumor cell-targeting properties.

• PDENs exert effective therapeutic effects against inflammatory diseases, cancers, and infectious diseases.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers of this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82072060), the Open Fund of State Key Laboratory of Southwestern Chinese Medicine Resources (SCMR202106), the Science and Technology Department of Jiangxi Province (20212BDH81019), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (XDJK2019TY002), and the Natural Science Foundation Project of Chongqing (cstc2020jcyj-msxmX0292).