Bone-targeted extracellular vesicles from mesenchymal stem cells for osteoporosis therapy

Background: Current drugs used for osteoporosis therapy show strong adverse effects. Stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) provide another choice for osteoporosis therapy. Mouse mesenchymal stem cells (mMSCs)-derived EVs promote bone regeneration; however, their clinical application is limited due to non-specific tissue targeting. Alendronate specifically targets bone tissue via hydroxyapatite. Therefore, EVs were combined with alendronate to generate Ale-EVs by “click chemistry” to facilitate EVs targeting bone via alendronate/hydroxyapatite binding. Methods: Ale-EVs were characterized based on size using dynamic light scattering analysis and morphology was visualized by transmission electron microscopy. Hydroxyapatite affinity of Ale-EVs was detected by flow cytometry. Bone targeting of Ale-EVs was tested by ex vivo fluorescent imaging. Cell viability was assessed by using WST-8 reduction assay kit for testing the ability of Ale-EVs to promote mMSCs proliferation. Alkaline phosphatase experiment was used to detect ability of Ale-EVs to promote differentiation of mouse mesenchymal stem cells in vitro. Western blotting and Q-PCR assay were used to detect the early marker of osteogenic differentiation. Antiosteoporotic effects of Ale-EVs were detected in ovariectomy (OVX)-induced osteoporosis rat model. The safety of the Ale-EVs in vivo was measured by H&E staining and serum markers assay. Results: In vitro, Ale-EVs had high affinity with hydroxyapatite. Also, ex vivo data indicated that Ale-EVs-DiD treatment of mice induced strong fluorescece in bone tissues compared with EVs-DiD group. Furthermore, results suggested that Ale-EVs promoted the growth and differentiation of mouse MSCs. They also protected against osteoporosis in ovariectomy (OVX)-induced osteoporotic rats. Ale-EVs were well tolerated and no side effects were found, indicating that Ale-EVs specifically target bone and can be used as a new therapeutic in osteoporosis treatment. Conclusion: We used the Ale-N3 to modify mouse mesenchymal stem cells-derived extracellular vesicles by copper-free “click chemistry” to generate a Ale-EVs system. The Ale-EVs had a high affinity for bone and have great potential for clinical applications in osteoporosis therapy with low systemic toxicity.