Exosomes as drug delivery vehicle and contributor of resistance to anticancer drugs - PubMed (original) (raw)

Review

Exosomes as drug delivery vehicle and contributor of resistance to anticancer drugs

Mahendran Chinnappan et al. Cancer Lett. 2020.

Abstract

Exosomes are small membranous vesicles implicated in intercellular signalling. Through their uncanny ability to carry and deliver donor cellular cargo (biomolecules) to target cells, they exert a profound effect on the regular functioning of healthy cells and play a significant role in pathogenesis and progression of several diseases, including cancer. The composition and number of endogenously circulating exosomes frequently vary, which is often reflective of the pathophysiological status of the cell. Applicability of exosomes derived from normal cells as a drug carrier with or without modifying their intraluminal and surface components are generally tested. Conversely, exosomes also are reported to contribute to resistance towards several anti-cancer therapies. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully evaluate the role of exosomes in cancer progression, resistance and the potential use of exosomes as a delivery vehicle of cancer therapeutics. In this review, we summarize the recent advancements in the exploitation of exosomes as a drug delivery vehicle. We also discuss the role of exosomes in conferring resistance to anti-cancer therapeutics. While this review is focused on cancer, the exosome-based drug delivery and resistance is also applicable to other human diseases.

Keywords: Extracellular vesicles; Nanocarriers; Tangential flow filtration; Tumor-derived exosome; Tumor-microenvironment.

Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors report no conflict of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Strategies to induce exosome induction from cells. Exosome production can be increased by subjecting the cells to electrical signal; knockdown of endo-lysosomal gene (NDRG1); treating cells with calcium phosphate; membrane protein sulfhydryl group blockers; chemotherapy agents; and hypoxia.

Figure 2.

Figure 2.

Method of loading therapeutics in exosome. Exosomes isolated from certain cell types show antitumor effects with its endogenously loaded composition. Exosomes can also be equipped exogenously with therapeutic proteins, nucleic acids, and small molecules. Endogenous loading of exosomes is achieved using a plasmid vector based expression of protein as a fusion protein with the tetraspanin proteins.

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