Exosomes and Supported Lipid Layers as Advanced Naturally Derived Drug Delivery Systems

In the never ending search for novel advanced drug delivery systems that would overcome the drawbacks, such as inducing the immune system and low drug loading, of currently utilized exogenous nanomaterials, a group of highly biocompatible and versatile drug carriers stand out from the rest, the “lipid-based family” of drug carriers. This family of carriers are unique due to their high bio-mimicking ability of cell membranes, making their toxicity of low concern and the modification of their targeting ability an achievable task. Herein, we will focus our discussion on two main members of this family, the exosomes and the naturally derived supported lipid bilayers (SLBs), as drug delivery platforms that have caught the attention of researchers in recent years due to their wide range of potential applications in the arena of targeted delivery. The significance of this chapter is to inform the reader about the history, advantages, shortcomings, potential, and applications of these two naturally derived carriers in biomedicine.