Topic: Extracellular Vesicle-Nanoparticle Interfaces: From Biological Barriers to Biohybrid Nucleic Acid Therapeutics

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) and synthetic nanoparticles are increasingly viewed as complementary, rather than competing, delivery systems for nucleic acid therapeutics. EVs transport endogenous DNA, RNA, and protein cargoes across biological barriers and can also reshape the biodistribution, uptake, and immune recognition of lipid nanoparticles. At the same time, advances in lipid nanoparticles, biomimetic vesicles, engineered EVs, and hybrid EV-nanoparticle systems are creating new opportunities to deliver mRNA, siRNA, miRNA, circular RNA, antisense oligonucleotides, and genome-editing payloads with greater cellular precision. This Special Issue will highlight mechanistic and translational studies at the interface of EV biology, circulating nucleic acids, and nanoengineering. We welcome original research, reviews, perspectives, and methodology articles addressing EV cargo loading and sorting, EV-LNP interactions, biohybrid delivery vehicles, immune and inflammatory disease applications, aging-associated biology, infection and cancer, analytical standardization, scalability, safety, and clinical translation. By bringing together EV biologists, RNA therapeutic scientists, nanomedicine engineers, and translational researchers, this issue aims to define how natural and engineered vesicular systems can become safer, more effective, and more clinically actionable platforms for nucleic acid medicine.

extracellular vesicles; circulating nucleic acids; lipid nanoparticles; RNA therapeutics; engineered exosomes; biohybrid nanoparticles; EV-LNP interfaces; immune modulation; clinical translation