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Recent progress in exosome research: isolation, characterization and clinical applications

Cancer Gene Therapy volume 30, pages 1051–1065 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Exosomes, a kind of nano-vesicles released by various cell types, carry a variety of “cargos” including proteins, RNAs, DNAs and lipids. There is substantial evidence that exosomes are involved in intercellular communication by exchanging “cargos” among cells and play important roles in cancer development. Because of the different expressions of “cargos” carried by exosomes in biological fluids under physiological and pathological conditions, exosomes have the potential as a minimally invasive method of liquid biopsy for cancer diagnosis and prognosis. In addition, due to their good biocompatibility, safety, biodistribution and low immunogenicity, exosomes also have potential applications in the development of promising cancer treatment methods. In this review, we summarize the recent progress in the isolation and characterization techniques of exosomes. Moreover, we review the biological functions of exosomes in regulating tumor metastasis, drug resistance and immune regulation during cancer development and outline the applications of exosomes in cancer therapy.

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Fig. 1: Schematic diagram of the exosome isolation techniques.
Fig. 2: The mechanisms and functions of tumor-derived exosomes (TEX) in immune regulation.
Fig. 3: The therapeutic value of exosomes in cancer treatment.

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Funding

Funding

Financial support from the Youth Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (number 82003767), Sichuan Science and Technology Program (number 2023YFS0159), and the Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences and the Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital clinical study and translational fund (no. 2020LZ01).

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Xi Wang, Jingyi Xia, Lei Yang.

  2. These authors jointly supervised this work: Jingying Dai, Lin He.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacy, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences & Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, School of Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610072, China

    Xi Wang, Jingyi Xia, Jingying Dai & Lin He

  2. Department of Pharmacy, The people’s hospital of jianyang city, Jianyang, 641400, China

    Lei Yang

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LH and XW conceived and designed this review article together. XW, JX, and LY wrote the original manuscript. LH and JD edited the manuscript and supervised the manuscript by providing critical feedback and revisions. All the authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

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Wang, X., Xia, J., Yang, L. et al. Recent progress in exosome research: isolation, characterization and clinical applications. Cancer Gene Ther 30, 1051–1065 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41417-023-00617-y

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