Current Perspectives on In Vivo Noninvasive Tracking of Extracellular Vesicles with Molecular Imaging

Abstract

Clinical and preclinical in vivo tracking of extracellular vesicles (EVs) are a crucial tool for the development and optimization of EV-based diagnosis and treatment. EVs have gained interest due to their unique properties that make them excellent candidates for biological applications. Noninvasive in vivo EV tracking has allowed marked progress towards elucidating the mechanisms and functions of EVs in real time in preclinical and clinical studies. In this review, we summarize several molecular imaging methods that deal with EVs derived from different cells, which have allowed investigations of EV biodistribution, as well as their tracking, delivery, and tumor targeting, to determine their physiological functions and to exploit imaging-derived information for EV-based theranostics.