Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41973317›Full record

ArticleDrug delivery and translational research2026

Pirfenidone-exosomes as innovative strategies for scarless tissue repair in wound healing.

Jin Wang, Chen Sun, Emmanuel A Ho

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Drug delivery and translational research, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Jin WangSchool of Pharmacy, Faculty of Science, University of Waterloo, 10 Victoria St S A, Kitchener, ON, N2G 1C5, Canada.
Chen SunSchool of Pharmacy, Faculty of Science, University of Waterloo, 10 Victoria St S A, Kitchener, ON, N2G 1C5, Canada.
Emmanuel A HoSchool of Pharmacy, Faculty of Science, University of Waterloo, 10 Victoria St S A, Kitchener, ON, N2G 1C5, Canada. emmanuel.ho@uwaterloo.ca.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

To facilitate scarless wound healing, developing an anti-scarring treatment that modulates dermal fibroblast activity is a promising strategy, with pirfenidone (PFD) showing potential due to its anti-fibrotic properties by targeting intracellular pathways that regulate collagen disposition. PFD, particularly when delivered via dermal fibroblast-derived exosomes, may further enhance therapeutic effectiveness and promote scarless healing. Two common isolation methods-PEG precipitation and affinity-based techniques-were compared to identify the most efficient approach for obtaining high-purity and relatively homogenous exosomes derived from human dermal fibroblasts. Characterization techniques, including transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), antibody arrays, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), confirmed the successful isolation of high-purity exosomes. The affinity-based method demonstrated superior performance, yielding well-dispersed and highly pure exosomes. We optimized the encapsulation and formulation of the antifibrotic compound PFD by exploiting exosomes as a drug delivery platform, employing an active loading method via sonication to enhance encapsulation efficiency (EE%) and loading efficiency (LE%), while carefully controlling the sonication process to preserve exosome integrity. The optimal formulation of PFD-exosomes achieved an EE% of 11.14% ± 1.27% and an LE of 10.01% ± 1.03%, with a particle recovery rate of exosomes at 64.21% ± 8.49% using sonication technique. Then, we investigated how to harness exosomes and PFD-exosomes as innovative strategies for achieving scarless tissue repair in wound healing. Our findings showed that exosomes enhanced fibroblast migration and proliferation, highlighting their potential as a stand-alone cell-free therapy for wound healing. Additionally, this study was ground-breaking in demonstrating that exosomes can improve the efficacy of PFD as a drug carrier, amplifying its anti-fibrotic effects in both in vitro and in vivo models. The in vivo results indicated that PFD-exosomes accelerated wound healing while organizing the extracellular matrix (ECM) by reducing excessive collagen deposition. Overall, PFD-exosomes present an innovative strategy for pre-scarring interventions, offering benefits of enhanced wound healing outcomes while minimizing scarring.

Indexed as

ExosomesPyridonesWound HealingAnimalsCell MovementCells, CulturedCicatrixFibroblastsHumansMicepirfenidonePyridonesExosomesHuman Dermal FibroblastsPirfenidone (PFD)Scarless HealingWound Healing

Identifiers

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.