Exosomes as Drug Carriers for Cancer Therapy

Abstract

Exosomes, biological extracellular vesicles, have recently begun to find use in targeted drug delivery in solid tumor research. Ranging from 30–120 nm in size, exosomes are secreted from cells and isolated from bodily fluids. Exosomes provide a unique material platform due to their characteristics, including physical properties such as stability, biocompatibility, permeability, low toxicity, and low immunogenicityall critical to the success of any nanoparticle drug delivery system. In addition to traditional chemotherapeutics, natural products and RNA have been encapsulated for the treatment of breast, pancreatic, lung, prostate cancers, and glioblastoma. This review discusses current research on exosomes for drug delivery to solid tumors.

Prospects and challenges of extracellular vesicle-based drug delivery system: considering cell source

“…Then, they detailed crucial steps for loading siRNA into exosomes and finally they outlined how to use exosomes to efficiently deliver siRNA in vitro and in vivo. In the following years, there are emerging number of works that associated with DEVs for the drug delivery (Lakhal & Wood, 2011;Cooper et al, 2014;Tian et al, 2014;Liu et al, 2017;Sabado et al, 2017;Pullan et al, 2019). Recently, EVs, such as DEVs are considered as a novel shuttle for delivery of therapeutics across biological barriers (Das et al, 2019).…”

Rational Design of Nanocarriers for Intracellular Protein Delivery

“…[259] It is known that exosomes are involved in cellular communication from the host to the recipient cell. For instance, the composition of exosomes and their functions are considered to be the major challenge.…”

“…For instance, the composition of exosomes and their functions are considered to be the major challenge. [259] It is known that exosomes are involved in cellular communication from the host to the recipient cell. However, the transported biomolecules, their roles, and the associated heterogeneity of the exosomes are unclear exactly.…”

Exosomes in Prostate Cancer Diagnosis, Prognosis and Therapy

“…They have an enhanced circulation stability and bio-barrier permeation ability, and they can therefore be used as effective chemotherapeutics carriers to improve the regulation of target tissues and organs [71]. Chemotherapeutics, natural products and RNA were combined for the treatment of prostate, breast, pancreatic, and lung cancers, as well as glioblastoma [14]. Exosomes have the capacity to deliver different types of cargo and to target specific cells (Figure 3).…”

“…Exosomes are released by the exocytosis of multivesicular bodies (MVBs), developed from early and then late endosomes [20]. Those naturally occurring membrane particles mediate intercellular communication by delivering molecular information between cancer and stromal cells, especially cancer-associated fibroblast (CAFs) [14]. Cancer cell-derived EVs cause very diverse effects and may depend on their target cells, which appear to take them up in several ways, such as receptor/lipid raft endocytosis, phagocytosis, micropinocytosis or fusion with the plasma membrane [17].…”