Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death worldwide, and effectively repairing the heart following myocardial injuries remains a significant challenge. Research has increasingly shown that exosomes derived from mesenchymal stem cells (MSC-Exo) can ameliorate myocardial injuries and improve outcomes after such injuries. The therapeutic benefits of MSC-Exo are largely due to their capacity to deliver specific cargo, including microRNAs and proteins. MSC-Exo can modulate various signaling pathways and provide several beneficial effects, including cytoprotection, inflammation modulation, and angiogenesis promotion to help repair the damaged myocardium. In this review, we summarize the cardioprotective effects of MSC-Exo in myocardial injury, the underlying molecular mechanism involved in the process, and various approaches studied to enhance their efficacy based on recent findings.
Keywords: angiogenesis; apoptosis; autophagy; cardiac repair; exosome; inflammation; microRNA; stem cells.