Harnessing Cell Membrane-Derived Nanovesicles for Enhanced Nanoprobes in Multimodal Imaging: Progress and Perspectives

Cell membrane-derived nanovesicles (CMNVs) are natural nanocarriers efficiently encapsulating bioactive molecules and imaging probes. Conventional nanoprobes face challenges, like rapid immune clearance, off-target accumulation, and long-term toxicity. CMNVs overcome these challenges by leveraging inherent biofunctionalization. CMNVs enhance encapsulated nanoprobe targeting, prolong circulation, boost specific tissue accumulation, and improve imaging precision through inherited membrane proteins or minimally disruptive exogenous modifications. CMNVs show significant promise across multiple imaging modalities, including fluorescence, bioluminescence, photoacoustic, and MRI. This review systematically evaluates the limitations of traditional nanoprobes, highlights the unique advantages of CMNVs in enhancing diverse probe performance, discusses current challenges in harnessing CMNVs for imaging, and provides insights for developing future high-precision imaging strategies.