: Exosomes are nano structured (50-90 nm) vesicles that originate from endosomal compartment of eukaryotic cells and are secreted into extracellular matrix. In recent years there has been increased interest in exploring exosomes for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Like many other diseases e.g. neurodegenerative disorders, autoimmune diseases exosomes have large significance in cancer too. Exosomes are known to prevail in large numbers and carry unique cargos in different types of cancers and thus are proving as versatile entities in understanding their biology of cancers and utilized as efficient diagnostic biomarkers in identification of cancer type. In addition to diagnostic applications there has been an increased interest in recent years to exploit exosomes as carriers for delivery of therapeutic agents to target sites as well. This is indebted to their exceptional non-immunogenic and biomimetic properties that prompted researchers to use exosomes as carriers for delivery of therapeutic agents e.g. drugs, genes and peptides. Exosomes also circumvent many drawbacks associated with other lipid or polymeric nanocarriers e.g. low circulation time, lipid toxicities, long term stability etc. However, in spite of many favorable aspects for exosome based therapy there have been a number of challenges too. This review will focus on the current status of the exosome based drug therapy for cancer, the challenges faced and its potential for future clinical use.

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Preclinical pharmacokinetic (PK) studies in animal models during the formulation development phase give preliminary evidence and near clear picture of the PK behavior of drug and/or its dosage forms before clinical studies on humans and help in the tailoring of the dosage form according to the expected and requisite clinical behavior. The present work reports a first of its kind preclinical PK study on extended-release (ER) solid oral dosage forms of venlafaxine (VEN) in New Zealand White rabbits. The VEN is a highly prescribed and one of the safest and most effective therapeutic agents used in the treatment of different types of depression disorders worldwide. The multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) LC–MS/MS method developed for this purpose demonstrated enough reliability in simultaneously quantitating VEN and its equipotent metabolite O-desmethylvenlafaxine (ODV) in rabbit plasma. The method described uses solid-phase extraction for sample preparation followed by an ultrafast LC–MS/MS analysis. The chromatographic separation was achieved isocratically with a predominantly polar mobile phase by employing RPLC. The triple quadrupole LC/MS/MS system operated in MRM mode used an ESI probe as an ion source in positive polarity. The validation results are within the permissible limits of US FDA recommendations and acceptance criteria for bioanalytical method validation.

This study characterizes the resistant starch (RS) and ball milled RS nanoparticles extracted from the stem of Nelunmbo nucifera, an underutilized aquatic plant. Starch (NS) was extracted from lotus stem and subjected to enzymatic digestion to isolate naturally present RS. The RS nanoparticles were produced via planetary ball milling carried out for 30 min (RS30), 60 min (RS60), and 90 min (RS90). The samples so obtained were characterized using dynamic light scattering (DLS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), light microscopy, Fourier transform infra-spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and differential scanning colorimeter (DSC). DLS revealed a hydrodynamic diameter of 12.