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Review
. 2020 Jun 29;21(13):4623.
doi: 10.3390/ijms21134623.

Perspectives in Manipulating EVs for Therapeutic Applications: Focus on Cancer Treatment

Katarzyna Nazimek  1 , Krzysztof Bryniarski  1
Affiliations
Review

Perspectives in Manipulating EVs for Therapeutic Applications: Focus on Cancer Treatment

Katarzyna Nazimek et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) receive special attention from oncologists due to their assumed usefulness as prognostic markers, vaccines to induce anti-cancer immune response, and physiological delivery tools. The latter application, which supports the reduction of side effects of treatment, is still fraught with many challenges, including established methods for loading EVs with selected cargo and directing them towards target cells. EVs could be loaded with selected cargo either in vitro using several physicochemical techniques, or in vivo by modification of parental cell, which may have an advantage over in vitro procedures, since some of them significantly influence EVs' properties. Otherwise, our research findings suggest that EVs could be passively supplemented with micro RNAs (miRNAs) or miRNA antagonists to induce expected biological effect. Furthermore, our observations imply that antigen-specific antibody light chains could coat the surface of EVs to increase the specificity of cell targeting. Finally, the route of EVs' administration also determines their bioavailability and eventually induced therapeutic effect. Besides, EV membrane lipids may possibly possess immune adjuvant activity. The review summarizes the current knowledge on the possibilities to manipulate EVs to use them as a delivery tool, with the special emphasis on anti-cancer therapy.

Keywords: anti-oncomiRs; anti-tumor immune response; anti-tumor therapy; drug delivery; exosomes; extracellular vesicles; immune regulation; miRNA.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Perspectives in clinical application of extracellular vesicles (EVs) targeting the desired cell through receptor-ligand interaction or specific antibodies in prevention or restoration of immune tolerance to cancer. Sites of possible EVs’ action are additionally marked with a greenish background. anti-—determines the specificity of monoclonal antibodies; CTLA-4—cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4; DC—dendritic cell; FasL—Fas ligand; MHC I—major histocompatibility complex class I; MHC II—major histocompatibility complex class II; PD-1—programmed death receptor-1; PD-L1—programmed death receptor-1 ligand; SIRPα—signal regulatory protein alpha; TCR—T cell receptor; Tex—tumor cell-derived extracellular vesicles; Treg cell—T regulatory cell.
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