Responsive Dual-targeting Exosome as Drug Carrier for Combination Cancer Immunotherapy

Recently, combination immunotherapy, which incorporates the activation of immune system and inhibition of immune escape, has been proved to be a new powerful strategy for more efficient tumor suppression compared to monotherapy. However, the major challenge is how to integrate multiple immune drugs together and efficient convey these drugs to tumor sites. Although a variety of nanomaterials have been exploited as carriers for targeting tumor issues and delivery of multiple drugs, their potential toxicity, immune rejection and stability are still controversial for clinical application.

To address this issue, Tang’s group of Shandong Normal University proposed a new combination immunotherapy based on endogenic exosome as drug carrier. Naturally, exosomes can provide inner space for drug payload, which show more flexibility in drug loading and effective delivery. Additionally, compared to other nanomaterials, exosomes are low immunogenic and high biocompatible, and the issue of proteins absorption is absent for exosomes.

Dual-targeting and drug-loaded exosomes used for tumor immunotherapy

The study was published in Research (https://doi.org/10.34133/2021/9862876), the first Science Partner Journal recently launched by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in collaboration with the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST). The developed drug carrier can specifically target DCs and tumor cells by modified anti-CD40 and anti-PD-L1. Meanwhile, immune response can be greatly enhanced by the loaded immune drugs cGAMP and antiCD40. Furthermore, tumor immune escape can be prevented by anti-PD-L1, which is deviating from the functionalized exosomes by the cleavage of MMP-2-responded polypeptide By combination of activation of immune response and inhibition of immune escape, the tumors are greatly inhibited in virtue of the endogenic low-toxic exosomes. The developed strategy can also be expanded to other areas for low-toxicity and high-efficiency drug delivery.

Original source:

Yuanyuan Fan, Yingshun Zhou, Meng Lu, Haibin Si, Lu Li, Bo Tang, "Responsive Dual-Targeting Exosome as a Drug Carrier for Combination Cancer Immunotherapy", Research, vol. 2021, Article ID 9862876, 12 pages, 2021. https://doi.org/10.34133/2021/9862876

Tag: Health Scienc