REVIEW article
Front. Cardiovasc. Med.
Sec. Atherosclerosis and Vascular Medicine
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2025.1666589
Extracellular Vesicles in Cardiovascular Diseases: Pathogenic Mediators, Diagnostic Tools, and Therapeutic Vectors
Provisionally accepted
- Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China
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Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), the leading global cause of mortality, underscore an urgent need for innovative diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. Extracellular vesicles (EVs)—lipid-bilayer nanoparticles transporting bioactive cargo (microRNAs, proteins, lipids)—are critical mediators of intercellular communication in CVD pathogenesis. They exhibit functional duality: propagating pathology (inflammation, fibrosis, thrombosis) while facilitating tissue repair. This review synthesizes EV biogenesis mechanisms, isolation methodologies, source-specific functions, and multifaceted roles in atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, heart failure, and stroke. We further evaluate EV-based diagnostic biomarkers, engineered therapeutic applications, clinical translation challenges, and future directions.
Keywords: extracellular vesicles, Cardiovascular Diseases, Atherosclerosis, Myocardial Infarction, Stroke, Heart Failure, Hypertension, valvular heart disease (VHD)
Received: 15 Jul 2025; Accepted: 22 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Wang, Qin, Chen, Zhu, Liu, Sun and Zhong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Wan Wang, wangwan-17@xzhmu.edu.cn
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.