The Applications of Exosomes in the Treatment of Autoimmune-Mediated Eye Diseases

In recent years, exosomes possess therapeutic potential for ocular disorders. They have similar cellular functions as their mother cell, especially mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). In addition, exosomes are ideal carriers for drug delivery because of their unique structure, including nanoparticle size, biological barrier penetration, and low immunogenicity. Exosomes have already been successfully tested for loading several drugs in the treatment of ocular diseases. At present, some studies suggest that exosomes derived from diverse cellular sources can be used as a biomarker for the predictive diagnosis of disease. In this chapter, we summarize the application of exosomes in autoimmune-mediated eye diseases including dry eye or Sjögren’s Syndrome, corneal transplant rejection, autoimmune uveitis, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO).