REVIEW article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Cardiovascular and Smooth Muscle Pharmacology
This article is part of the Research TopicMicroRNA Secretion and Delivery: Mechanisms, Biomarkers, and Therapeutic InnovationsView all 6 articles
Mechanisms and Emerging Research Trends of Angiogenesis Promotion by Small Extracellular Vesicles from Different Cellular Sources in Alleviating Myocardial Infarction Injury
Provisionally accepted
- West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
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Word count: 176 Myocardial infarction (MI), a lethal coronary artery disease primarily triggered by atherothrombosis or an imbalance in myocardial oxygen supply and demand, stands as a leading cause of mortality worldwide. Promoting angiogenesis is recognized as an effective therapeutic strategy for MI, a process highly dependent on the functional status of endothelial cells (ECs). Small extracellular vesicles (sEVs), which are membrane-bound vesicles secreted by cells and enriched with bioactive molecules including proteins, lipids, and RNAs, are ubiquitously present in the secretome of diverse cell types such as stem cells, immune cells, and cardiac cells. Studies have confirmed that sEVs can deliver specific "cargo" such as miRNAs and cytokines via paracrine or endocrine pathways, activating key downstream signaling cascades. This effectively promotes EC proliferation, migration, and tube formation, thereby enhancing angiogenic capacity and ultimately mitigating pathological cardiac remodeling while improving prognosis post-MI. This review focuses on sEVs derived from various cellular sources, systematically summarizing their roles in promoting angiogenesis and the latest research advances in regulating EC function, aiming to provide novel insights for the effective treatment of MI.
Keywords: Angiogenesis, Endothelial Cells, intercellular communication, Myocardial Infarction, Small extracellular vesicles
Received: 12 Dec 2025; Accepted: 12 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Liu, Hu, Cao and Gan. 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:
Yu Cao
Lu Gan
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