Exosome-Encased Nucleic Acid Scaffold Chemotherapeutic Agents for Superior Anti-Tumor and Anti-Angiogenesis Activity

Extracellular vesicles(EVs), or exosomes, play a pivotal rolein tumor growth and metastasis, such as in the case of Kaposi Sarcoma.By loading tumor-derived EVs with chemotherapeutic drugs, we notedthat their pro-tumor/pro-angiogenic phenotype was converted into ananti-tumor phenotype in vivo. Drug concentrationin EVs was significantly higher than in clinically approved liposomeformulation, as retention was facilitated by the presence of miRNAsinside the natural EVs. This demonstrates a new mechanism by whichto increase the payload capacity of nanoparticles. By exploiting thetargeting preferences of tumor-derived EVs, chemotherapeutics canbe directed to specifically poison the cells and the microenvironmentthat enables metastasis.