Milk Exosomes Facilitate Oral Delivery of Drugs against Intestinal Bacterial Infections.

Abstract

Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS) class II and IV drugs exhibit low solubility and suffer a limitation in oral administration. Exosomes have attracted intensive attention in the efficient delivery of such compounds. However, low gastrointestinal stability and high production cost of exosomes hinder their development as drug carriers. Here, milk exosomes are functionalized with phosphatidylserine and are capable of improving the solubility of BCS class II and IV drugs, resulting in facilitating the oral delivery of the drugs. A natural flavonoid, α-mangostin, is loaded into exosomes (AExo) to enhance the antibacterial efficiency, demonstrated by clearing 99% of bacteria in macrophages. Furthermore, AExo exhibits high mucus penetrability and shows a significant therapeutic efficacy in two animal infection models. Collectively, this work expands the application of exosomes from bovine milk with simple operation and low cost, shedding light on the potential of milk exosomes in improving the solubility of drugs to enhance the efficacy of oral administration.