Biosensors and Nanotheranostics
Bionanotechnology, Drug Delivery, Therapeutics | online ISSN 3064-7789
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Volume 5 Number 1 2026
REVIEWS (Open Access)
Plant-Derived Exosome-Like Nanovesicles as Natural Oral Drug Carriers for Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Biogenesis, Multi-Targeted Mechanisms, and Translational Prospects
Md Shariful Islam 1*, Mirza Humaun Kabir Rubel 2
Biosensors and Nanotheranostics 5 (1) 1-8 https://doi.org/10.25163/biosensors.5110990
Submitted: 22 June 2026 Revised: 10 August 2026 Accepted: 18 August 2026 Published: 20 August 2026
Abstract
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) remains difficult to treat because the drugs that work systemically rarely reach the inflamed colon intact, and those that do often carry a heavy burden of toxicity. Against this backdrop, plant-derived exosome-like nanovesicles (PELNs) have attracted growing attention as an edible, low-cost, and biocompatible alternative to both synthetic nanocarriers and mammalian extracellular vesicles. These nanoscale, lipid-bilayer structures (roughly 30–500 nm) are secreted by ginger, grape, grapefruit, garlic, broccoli, and turmeric, and they are built through multivesicular-body, exocyst-positive-organelle, and vacuolar routes. What makes them unusual is a kind of dual identity: their native cargo of plant microRNAs, phospholipids, and secondary metabolites is therapeutic in its own right, while the vesicle itself serves as a rugged vehicle that survives gastric acid, bile, and pancreatic enzymes across pH 2.0–8.0. This review synthesizes the current literature on how PELNs act in IBD. We trace their biogenesis and lipidomic make-up, examine the three mechanistic pillars that recur across studies—suppression of NF-κB, NLRP3, and MAPK signaling; repair of the epithelial barrier through Wnt/β-catenin-driven stem-cell renewal; and cross-kingdom remodeling of the gut microbiota—and review how the vesicles have been loaded with small molecules, siRNA, and even infliximab for targeted colonic delivery. Early clinical signals, including a Phase I ginger-exosome trial, look encouraging, yet non-standardized isolation, batch variability, and thin pharmacokinetic data continue to hold the field back. We close by outlining what standardization and regulatory alignment would need to look like for PELNs to move from promising preclinical tools toward genuine oral nanotherapeutics.
Keywords: plant-derived exosome-like nanovesicles; inflammatory bowel disease; ulcerative colitis; oral drug delivery; cross-kingdom regulation; gut microbiota; infliximab.
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