Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Oct 5;21(19):7363.
doi: 10.3390/ijms21197363.

The Biological Function and Therapeutic Potential of Exosomes in Cancer: Exosomes as Efficient Nanocommunicators for Cancer Therapy

Jeong Uk Choi  1 , In-Kyu Park  2 , Yong-Kyu Lee  3 , Seung Rim Hwang  4   5
Affiliations
Review

The Biological Function and Therapeutic Potential of Exosomes in Cancer: Exosomes as Efficient Nanocommunicators for Cancer Therapy

Jeong Uk Choi et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Cancer therapeutics must be delivered to their targets for improving efficacy and reducing toxicity, though they encounter physiological barriers in the tumor microenvironment. They also face limitations associated with genetic instability and dynamic changes of surface proteins in cancer cells. Nanosized exosomes generated from the endosomal compartment, however, transfer their cargo to the recipient cells and mediate the intercellular communication, which affects malignancy progression, tumor immunity, and chemoresistance. In this review, we give an overview of exosomes' biological aspects and therapeutic potential as diagnostic biomarkers and drug delivery vehicles for oncotherapy. Furthermore, we discuss whether exosomes could contribute to personalized cancer immunotherapy drug design as efficient nanocommunicators.

Keywords: cancer; diagnostic biomarker; drug delivery vehicle; exosome; nanocommunicator; personalized cancer immunotherapy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The process of exosome biogenesis. The perimeter membrane of endocytic vesicles buds inward during endosome maturation from the early endosome to the late endosome. Further invagination of the endosomal membrane forms intraluminal vesicles (ILVs) in the multivesicular body (MVB). Subsequently, the MVB is fused with the lysosome or release its contents in the form of exosomes (top right). This process of exosome biogenesis is different from that of microvesicle (MV) shedding (bottom). Receptors internalized from the cell surface and other exosomal cargo proteins are packed in the late endosome either by endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT)-dependent or ESCRT-independent pathway. ER: endoplasmic reticulum; ILV: intraluminal vesicle; MVB: multivesicular body; MV: microvesicle; ESCRT: endosomal sorting complex required for transport; ALIX: apoptosis-linked gene 2-interacting protein X.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The illustration of exosome–cell interaction. Exosomes can be taken up into the recipient cell via direct membrane fusion or endocytosis, leading to the delivery of exosomal contents such as DNAs, messenger RNAs, long non-coding RNAs, enzymes, and signaling peptides or proteins to the cytosolic space of the recipient cell. Receptor-ligand interactions between cell surface receptors and exosomal ligands may also occur.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The illustration of exosomal components. The diverse functions of exosomes are governed by the delivery of exosomal cargo proteins and nucleic acids to the recipient cells. Exosomal components include lipids, nucleic acids, tetraspanins, adhesion molecules, antigen-presenting molecules, transmembrane receptors, MVB formation proteins, membrane trafficking proteins, enzymes, signaling proteins, etc. mRNA: messenger RNAs; lncRNA: long non-coding RNA; ICAM: intercellular adhesion molecule; EpCAM: epithelial cell adhesion molecule; MHC: major histocompatibility complex.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Potential therapeutic applications of exosomes in cancer. As exosomal components reflect the characteristics of the cells of origin, many attempts have been made to use tumor-derived exosomes (TEXs) as cancer diagnostic biomarkers. For identification of exosome contents, general methods such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), next-generation sequencing (NGS), and proteomics can be used. Exosomes also have therapeutic potential as nanovehicles for drug delivery and personalized cancer immunotherapy. TEX: tumor-derived exosome; PCR: polymerase chain reaction; NGS: next-generation sequencing.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Mullard A. 2019 FDA drug approvals. Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. 2020;19:79–84. doi: 10.1038/d41573-020-00001-7. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Zhang Y., Li M., Gao X., Chen Y., Liu T. Nanotechnology in cancer diagnosis: Progress, challenges and opportunities. J. Hematol. Oncol. 2019;12:137. doi: 10.1186/s13045-019-0833-3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jeon S.M., Kwon J.W., Choi S.H., Park H.Y. Economic burden of lung cancer: A retrospective cohort study in South Korea, 2002-2015. PLoS ONE. 2019;14:e0212878. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0212878. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yang Y., Miller C.R., Lopez-Beltran A., Montironi R., Cheng M., Zhang S., Koch M.O., Kaimakliotis H.Z., Cheng L. Liquid Biopsies in the Management of Bladder Cancer: Next-Generation Biomarkers for Diagnosis, Surveillance, and Treatment-Response Prediction. Crit. Rev. Oncog. 2017;22:389–401. doi: 10.1615/CritRevOncog.2017020803. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Melo S.A., Sugimoto H., O’Connell J.T., Kato N., Villanueva A., Vidal A., Qiu L., Vitkin E., Perelman L.T., Melo C.A., et al. Cancer exosomes perform cell-independent microRNA biogenesis and promote tumorigenesis. Cancer Cell. 2014;26:707–721. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2014.09.005. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources