Extracellular vesicles as novel assay tools to study cellular interactions of anti-infective compounds – A perspective

Sudden outbreaks of novel infectious diseases and the persistent evolution of antimicrobial resistant pathogens make it necessary to develop specific tools to quickly understand pathogen-cell interactions and to study appropriate drug delivery strategies. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are cell-specific biogenic transport systems, which are gaining more and more popularity as either diagnostic markers or drug delivery systems. Apart from that, there are emerging possibilities for EVs as tools to study drug penetration, drug-membrane interactions as well as pathogen-membrane interactions. However, it appears that the potential of EVs for such applications has not been fully exploited yet. Considering the vast variety of cells that can be involved in an infection, vesicle-based analytical methods are just emerging and the number of reported applications is still relatively small. Aim of this review is to discuss the current state of the art of EV-based assays, especially in the context of antimicrobial research and therapy, and to present some new perspectives for a more exhaustive and creative exploration in the future.