{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T23:55:46Z","timestamp":1791417346168,"version":"4.3.3"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,12]],"date-time":"2024-08-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1723420800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Artesunate (ATS) is considered the most widely employed artemisnin derivative in the treatment of <jats:italic>Plasmodium falciparum<\/jats:italic> malaria. However, poor solubility and low bioavailability of ATS limit its further clinical application. Herein, we developed a new strategy based on the exosome (exo) - drug conjugation (EDC) using the milk-derived exosomes for ATS delivery. The Exo-ATS conjugates (EACs) which formed via a facile bio-conjugation of ATS to the exosomal surface, have been demonstrated to be able to not only boost the solubility and bioavailability of ATS but also enable a sustained-release of ATS from exosomes. Maximal improvement of 71.4-fold in the solubility of ATS was attained by EACs. The corresponding entrapment efficiency and drug loading capacities were found to be 90.3% and 73.9% for EACs, respectively. Further, <jats:italic>in vivo<\/jats:italic> pharmacokinetics study manifested that maximum 2.6-fold improved bioavailability of ATS was achieved by oral delivery of EACs. Moreover, EACs displayed a distinct sustained-release profile of maximum 36.2-fold prolonged half-life of ATS via intravenous delivery. We reported that for the first time the administration of EACs could be a potential drug delivery strategy aimed at ameliorating the pharmacokinetic profile of ATS based on our encouraging results and hoped that our work opened up a new avenue for the development of EDC delivery system.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fbioe.2024.1437787","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,12]],"date-time":"2024-08-12T05:03:33Z","timestamp":1723439013000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Exosome-drug conjugates delivery: a promising strategy for ameliorating the pharmacokinetic profile of artesunate"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Da","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yunfei","family":"Bai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Guogang","family":"Cheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shengqiang","family":"Shen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gengwu","family":"Xiao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Demei","family":"Ma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ganggang","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wei","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tianshi","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Litao","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaohu","family":"Ge","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1627","DOI":"10.1016\/j.nano.2017.03.001","article-title":"Milk-derived exosomes for oral delivery of paclitaxel","volume":"13","author":"Agrawal","year":"2017","journal-title":"Nanomedicine Nanotechnol. 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