An off-the-shelf bioactive EV delivering cryogel orchestrating immunomodulatory reprogramming and angiogenesis for diabetic ulcer healing
By: Shiekh PA, Tariq U, Athmuri DN et al. | Published in: Biomaterials | February 2026
One of the biggest obstacles to healing in diabetic foot ulcers isn’t infection or poor blood supply — it’s a dysfunctional immune response. The wound stays locked in a state of chronic inflammation, with immune cells (macrophages) continuing to fan the flames instead of switching into repair mode. A research team at the Indian Institute of Technology has developed a treatment that tackles this at multiple levels simultaneously — and it’s shelf-stable for over six months.
They call it BOOST — Bioactive Oxygenated Off-the-Shelf EV Therapy. It’s a sponge-like cryogel scaffold that simultaneously delivers three things: extracellular vesicles (tiny biological particles that signal cells to shift from inflammation to regeneration), sustained oxygen release to address the oxygen-starved wound environment, and antioxidant activity to neutralise the reactive oxygen species that are toxic to healing tissue. In diabetic mouse models, BOOST reprogrammed macrophages from the destructive M1 phenotype to the healing M2 phenotype, drove new blood vessel formation, stimulated collagen synthesis, and even promoted hair follicle regeneration — with significantly accelerated wound closure throughout.
This is pre-clinical work (mouse models), so it hasn’t reached human trials yet. But the “off-the-shelf” aspect is a genuine breakthrough for the field — previous extracellular vesicle therapies have been hampered by instability in storage. BOOST maintains full bioactivity for over six months, meaning it could realistically sit in a clinic refrigerator ready to use. This is exactly the kind of multi-pronged, biology-first thinking that chronic wound care needs.
📎 Source: Shiekh PA et al. “An off-the-shelf bioactive EV delivering cryogel orchestrating immunomodulatory reprogramming and angiogenesis for diabetic ulcer healing.” Biomaterials. 2026;330:124053. DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2026.124053
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