Ultrafast and Controlled Capturing, Loading, and Release of Extracellular Vesicles by a Portable Microstructured Electrochemical Fluidic Device

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are secreted by all living cells and are found in body fluids. They exert numerous physiological and pathological functions and serve as cargo shuttles. Due to their safety and inherent bioactivity, they have emerged as versatile therapeutic agents, biomarkers, and potential drug carriers. Despite the growing interest in EVs, current progress in this field is, in part, limited by relatively inefficient isolation techniques. Conventional methods are indeed slow, laborious, require specialized laboratory equipment, and may result in low yield and purity. This work describes an electrochemically controlled "all-in-one" device enabling capturing, loading, and releasing of EVs. The device is composed of a fluidic channel confined within antibody-coated microstructured electrodes. It rapidly isolates EVs with a high level of purity from various biofluids. As a proof of principle, the device is applied to isolate EVs from skin wounds of healthy and diabetic mice. Strikingly, it is found that EVs from healing wounds of diabetic mice are enriched in mitochondrial proteins compared to those of healthy mice. Additionally, the device improves the loading protocol of EVs with polyplexes, and may therefore find applications in nucleic acid delivery. Overall, the electrochemical device can greatly facilitate the development of EVs-based technologies.

Exosomes: a potential diagnostic and treatment modality in the quest for counteracting cancer

BACKGROUND

Exosomes are nanosized bio vesicles formed when multivesicular bodies and the plasma membrane merge and discharge into bodily fluids. They are well recognized for facilitating intercellular communication by transporting numerous biomolecules, including DNA, RNAs, proteins, and lipids, and have been implicated in varied diseases including cancer. Exosomes may be altered to transport a variety of therapeutic payloads, including as short interfering RNAs, antisense oligonucleotides, chemotherapeutic drugs, and immunological modulators, and can be directed to a specific target. Exosomes also possess the potential to act as a diagnostic biomarker in cancer, in addition to their therapeutic potential.

CONCLUSION

In this review, the physiological roles played by exosomes were summarized along with their biogenesis process. Different isolation techniques of exosomes including centrifugation-based, size-based, and polymer precipitation-based techniques have also been described in detail with a special focus on cancer therapeutic applications. The review also shed light on techniques of incubation of drugs with exosomes and their characterization methods covering the most advanced techniques. Myriad applications of exosomes in cancer as diagnostic biomarkers, drug delivery carriers, and chemoresistance-related issues have been discussed at length. Furthermore, a brief overview of exosome-based anti-cancer vaccines and a few prominent challenges concerning exosomal delivery have been concluded at the end.

Extracellular Vesicles and Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Activation: Interplay of Drivers in Cancer Progression

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are of great interest to study the cellular mechanisms of cancer development and to diagnose and monitor cancer progression. EVs are a highly heterogeneous population of cell derived particles, which include microvesicles (MVs) and exosomes (EXOs). EVs deliver intercellular messages transferring proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and metabolites with implications for tumour progression, invasiveness, and metastasis. Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) is a major driver of cancer. Tumour cells with activated EGFR could produce EVs disseminating EGFR itself or its ligands. This review provides an overview of EVs (mainly EXOs and MVs) and their cargo, with a subsequent focus on their production and effects related to EGFR activation. In particular, in vitro studies performed in EGFR-dependent solid tumours and/or cell cultures will be explored, thus shedding light on the interplay between EGFR and EVs production in promoting cancer progression, metastases, and resistance to therapies. Finally, an overview of liquid biopsy approaches involving EGFR and EVs in the blood/plasma of EGFR-dependent tumour patients will also be discussed to evaluate their possible application as candidate biomarkers.

Extracellular Vesicles as Potential Therapeutic Messengers in Cancer Management

A deeper understanding of the communication mechanisms of tumor cells in a tumor microenvironment can improve the development of new therapeutic solutions, leading to a more personalized approach. Recently, the field of extracellular vesicles (EVs) has drawn attention due to their key role in intercellular communication. EVs are nano-sized lipid bilayer vesicles that are secreted by all types of cells and can function as intermediators of intercellular communication with the ability to transfer different cargo (proteins, nucleic acids, sugar…) types among cells. This role of EVs is essential in a cancer context as it can affect tumor promotion and progression and contribute to the pre-metastatic niche establishment. Therefore, scientists from basic, translational, and clinical research areas are currently researching EVs with great expectations due to their potential to be used as clinical biomarkers, which are useful for disease diagnosis, prognosis, patient follow-up, or even as vehicles for drug delivery due to their natural carrier nature. The application of EVs presents numerous advantages as drug delivery vehicles, namely their capacity to overcome natural barriers, their inherent cell-targeting properties, and their stability in the circulation. In this review, we highlight the distinctive features of EVs, their application as efficient drug delivery systems, and their clinical applications.

Engineered Exosomes for Tumor-Targeted Drug Delivery: A Focus on Genetic and Chemical Functionalization

Cancer is the main cause of death worldwide. The limitations in traditional cancer therapies provoked the advance and use of several nanotechnologies for more effective and nontoxic cancer treatment. Along with synthetic nanocarriers, extracellular vesicles (EVs)-mediated drug delivery systems have aroused substantial interest. The term EVs refers to cell-derived nanovesicles, such as exosomes, with phospholipid-bound structures, participating in cell-to-cell communication. Exosomes are 30-150 nm vesicles that can transfer many biological molecules between cells. From a drug delivery standpoint, exosomes can be loaded with various therapeutic cargo, with the several advantages of low immunogenicity, high biocompatibility, transformative, and effective tumor targeting aptitude. The exosomal surface can be functionalized to improve tumor targeting ability of them. Researchers have genetically expressed or chemically linked various molecules on the surface of exosomes. Despite extensive investigation, clinical translation of exosome-based drug delivery remains challenging. In this review, we discuss various methods used to loading exosomes with therapeutic cargo. We describe examples of functionalized exosomes surface using genetic and chemical modification methods. Finally, this review attempts to provide future outlooks for exosome-based targeted drug delivery.

Osteosarcoma from the unknown to the use of exosomes as a versatile and dynamic therapeutic approach

The most common primary malignant tumor of bone in children is osteosarcoma (OS). Nowadays, the prognosis and the introduction of chemotherapy in OS have improved survival rates of patients. Nevertheless, the results are still unsatisfactory, especially, in patients with recurrent disease or metastatic. OS chemotherapy has two main challenges related to treatment toxicity and multiple drug resistance. In this way, nanotechnology has developed nanosystems capable of releasing the drug directly at the OS cells and decreasing the drug's toxicity. Exosomes (Exo), a cell-derived nano-sized and a phospholipid vehicle, have been recognized as important drug delivery systems in several cancers. They are involved in a variety of biological processes and are an important mediator of long-distance intercellular communication. Exo can reduce inflammation and show low toxicity in healthy cells. Furthermore, the incorporation of specific proteins or peptides on the Exo surface improves their targeting capability in several clinical applications. Due to their unique structure and relevant characteristics, Exo is a promising nanocarrier for OS treatment. This review intends to describe the properties that turn Exo into an efficient, as well as safe nanovesicle for drug delivery and treatment of OS.

Exosomes Engineering and Their Roles as Therapy Delivery Tools, Therapeutic Targets, and Biomarkers

Exosomes are becoming increasingly important therapeutic biomaterials for use in a variety of therapeutic applications due to their unique characteristics, especially due to the ineffectiveness and cytotoxicity of some existing therapies and synthetic therapeutic nanocarriers. They are highly promising as carriers of drugs, genes, and other therapeutic agents that can be incorporated into their interior or onto their surface through various modification techniques to improve their targeting abilities. In addition, they are biocompatible, safe, and stable. The review focuses on different types of exosomes and methods of their preparation, including the incorporation of different kinds of cargo, especially for drug delivery purposes. In particular, their importance and effectiveness as delivery vehicles of various therapeutic agents for a variety of therapeutic applications, including different diseases and disorders such as cancer treatment, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, are emphasized. Administration routes of exosomes into the body are also included. A novelty in the article is the emphasis on global companies that are already successfully developing and testing such therapeutic biomaterials, with a focus on the most influential ones. Moreover, a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of the various methods of exosome production is summarized for the first time.