{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,9]],"date-time":"2026-07-09T13:14:56Z","timestamp":1783602896385,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]],"date-time":"2026-06-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782777600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Bioengineering"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Osteoarthritis (OA) is a prevalent degenerative joint disorder characterized by cartilage degradation, synovial inflammation, and osteophyte formation, yet effective therapies that alter disease progression remain absent. Mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes (MSC-EXOs), as a cell-free regenerative medicine strategy, have shown great potential in the treatment of osteoarthritis. In this study, we successfully isolated and purified exosomes derived from human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells using a scalable tangential flow filtration (TFF)\u2013chromatography platform and evaluated their therapeutic effects on OA model induced by anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT). OARSI scores were significantly reduced compared with the ACLT group (p &lt; 0.01). Exosomes administration markedly reduced osteophyte formation, preserved cartilage structure, enhanced collagen II expression (p &lt; 0.01), and suppressed MMP13-mediated matrix degradation (p &lt; 0.05) compared with the ACLT group. The treatment also significantly decreased pro-inflammatory cytokines, indicating alleviation of the inflammatory microenvironment. Transcriptomic profiling further revealed genes and pathways potentially associated with exosome treatment. These findings suggest that hUC-MSC-EXOs isolated and purified using TFF\u2013chromatography exert robust chondroprotective and immunomodulatory effects, supporting their potential as an effective cell-free therapeutic candidate for OA.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bioengineering13070770","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]],"date-time":"2026-07-01T03:06:34Z","timestamp":1782875194000},"page":"770","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Scalable Isolation of Human Umbilical Cord MSC-Derived Exosomes and Their Therapeutic Potential in Osteoarthritis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Chao","family":"Zhou","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-Sen University, 66 Gongchanglu Road, Guangming District, Shenzhen 518107, China"},{"name":"Guangzhou National Laboratory, Guangzhou International Bio Island, No. 9 Xingdaohuanbei Road, Guangzhou 510005, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shimei","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangzhou Anjie Biomedical Technology Co., Ltd., Guangzhou 510005, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yanyi","family":"Zeng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510006, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xueyan","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangzhou Anjie Biomedical Technology Co., Ltd., Guangzhou 510005, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shiye","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Animal Science and Technology, Foshan University, Foshan 528225, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ke","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Animal Science and Technology, Foshan University, Foshan 528225, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Junrong","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangzhou Anjie Biomedical Technology Co., Ltd., Guangzhou 510005, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Haibin","family":"Yin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangzhou Anjie Biomedical Technology Co., Ltd., Guangzhou 510005, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3684-6126","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yuanyuan","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Agriculture and Bioengineering, Foshan University, Foshan 528225, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1711","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(20)32230-3","article-title":"Osteoarthritis in 2020 and beyond: A Lancet Commission","volume":"396","author":"Hunter","year":"2020","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100587","DOI":"10.1016\/j.eclinm.2020.100587","article-title":"Global, regional prevalence, incidence and risk factors of knee osteoarthritis in population-based studies","volume":"29\u201330","author":"Cui","year":"2020","journal-title":"eClinicalMedicine"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1270","DOI":"10.1016\/j.joca.2011.08.009","article-title":"The effect of osteoarthritis definition on prevalence and incidence estimates: A systematic review","volume":"19","author":"Pereira","year":"2011","journal-title":"Osteoarthr. 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