Unravelling Ligand Conjugation Performance in Extracellular Vesicles: A Quantitative Assessment of Lipid, Protein, and Membrane Modifications.

ABSTRACT: Surface functionalization is an effective approach for enhancing the cancer-targeting efficiency of extracellular vesicles (EVs). However, the lack of direct comparisons between functionalization strategies has hindered the rational design of EV delivery systems. To address this gap, we developed a nano-flow cytometry-based methodology to quantitatively evaluate ligand conjugation and its relationship to targeting efficiency across three representative post‑production EV engineering strategies: lipid modification, protein modification, and membrane insertion. All three strategies achieved high conjugation efficiencies (>90%) with ligand densities ranging from several to tens of ligands per 100 nm² under optimized conditions. Beyond ligand density, functionalization strategies re

SUBMITTER: Pan X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12519427 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature