Infectious diseases caused by viruses or bacteria pose a serious threat to human life and health system, such as influenza, COVID‐19, and sepsis. They are characterized by obstacles of pathogen clearance, immune dysfunction, or microbial dysbiosis. Conventional therapies are facing tremendous challenges such as antibiotic resistance and viral rapid mutations. Chinese herbal medicine‐derived extracellular vesicles‐like particles (CHM‐EVLPs), a novel strategy, have exhibited great potential for infectious disease therapy. These natural CHM‐EVLPs possess unique advantages in clearing pathogens, orchestrating host immune homeostasis, repairing tissue barrier, and mitigating microbial dysbiosis. Besides, they can deliver some therapeutic drugs for targeted therapy as nano carriers. Good biocompatibility and organotropism also endowed them satisfactory security. These advantages might assist CHM‐EVLPs overcome the limitations of traditional therapeutics. Thus, this review first summarizes the basic information of CHM‐EVLPs regarding preparation methods and bioactive components. Then, the pathological mechanisms of infectious diseases and the protective effects of CHM‐EVLPs through interaction with these mechanisms will be comprehensively discussed. Finally, future perspectives of CHM‐EVLPs for infectious diseases treatment are proposed. Overall, as a bridge connecting traditional herbal medicine and nanotechnology, CHM‐EVLPs offer a high‐efficiency, sustainable, and multitarget approach to treat infectious diseases.
Weng et al. (2026) studied this question.