Yameng Song,1,2 Caiyun Yin,2 Ning Kong1 

1Department of Regenerative Medicine, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, People’s Republic of China; 2National Health Commission (NHC) Key Laboratory of Radiobiology, School of Public Health, Jilin University, Changchun, People’s Republic of China

Correspondence: Ning Kong, Email kongning@jlu.edu.cn

Abstract: Diabetic retinopathy is one of the complications of diabetes mellitus that occurs in the early stages. It is a disease that has a serious impact, and may lead to blindness when the disease progresses to advanced stages. Currently, treatments for diabetic retinopathy are mainly limited to its advanced stages of the disease, being restricted to a single therapeutic mechanism. Stem cells hold the promise of regenerative therapy and have the potential to comprehensively improve diabetic retinopathy. However, direct stem cell therapy carries some risk of carcinogenesis. Exosomes secreted by stem cells have shown a similar overall improvement in disease as stem cells. Exosomes can carry a number of biologically active materials from donor cells to recipient cells or distant organs, regulating intercellular signaling. Exosomes have shown remarkable efficacy in alleviating oxidative stress, inhibiting inflammatory responses, suppressing angiogenesis, reducing apoptosis and protecting neural tissues. Currently, the experimental literature using stem cell exosomes in the treatment of diabetic retinopathy tends to converge on the above experimental results. With this in mind, we have chosen to explore exosomes in depth from a subtle molecular perspective. We will elaborate on this perspective in this paper and propose to advocate exosome therapy as one promising approach for the treatment of diabetic retinopathy to ameliorate the lesions through multiple mechanisms.

Keywords: stem cell, exosomes, diabetic retinopathy, versatile mechanisms, treatment