Perspectives on Bovine Milk-Derived Extracellular Vesicles for Therapeutic Applications in Gut Health

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanosized vesicles secreted from cells into the extracellular environment and are composed of a lipid bilayer that contains cargos with biological activity;such as lipids;proteins;mRNAs;and noncoding microRNAs (miRNAs). Due to their biological activity and their role in cell-to-cell communication;interest in EVs is rapidly increasing. Bovine milk is a food consumed by people of all ages around the world that contains not only a significant amount of nutrients but also EVs. Milk-derived EVs also exhibit biological activity similar to other source-derived EVs;and studies on bovine milk EVs have been conducted in various research fields regarding sufficient milk production. In particular;not only are the effects of milk EVs themselves being studied;but the possibility of using them as drug carriers or biomarkers is also being studied. In this review;the characteristics and cargo of milk EVs are summarized;as well as their uptake and stability;efficacy and biological effects as carriers;and future research directions are presented.