The potential applications of artificially modified exosomes derived from mesenchymal stem cells in tumor therapy

Yilin Song; Quanlin Song; Daosheng Hu; Binwen Sun; Mingwei Gao; Xiangnan Liang; Boxin Qu; Lida Suo; Zeli Yin; Liming Wang

doi:10.3389/fonc.2023.1299384

The potential applications of artificially modified exosomes derived from mesenchymal stem cells in tumor therapy

Front Oncol. 2024 Jan 4:13:1299384. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1299384. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yilin Song^#^{1

2

3}, Quanlin Song^#⁴, Daosheng Hu^#^{1

2

3}, Binwen Sun^{1

2

3}, Mingwei Gao^{1

2

3}, Xiangnan Liang^{1

2

3}, Boxin Qu^{1

2

3}, Lida Suo^{1

2

3}, Zeli Yin^{1

2

3}, Liming Wang^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Engineering Research Center for New Materials and Precision Treatment Technology of Malignant Tumors Therapy, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China.
² Engineering Technology Research Center for Translational Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China.
³ Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Department of General Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China.
⁴ Department of Neurosurgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have tumor-homing ability and play critical roles in tumor treatment, but their dual influences on tumor progression limit their therapeutic applications. Exosomes derived from MSCs (MSC-exosomes) exhibit great potential in targeted tumor treatment due to their advantages of high stability, low immunogenicity, good biocompatibility, long circulation time and homing characteristics. Furthermore, the artificial modification of MSC-exosomes could amplify their advantages and their inhibitory effect on tumors and could overcome the limit of tumor-promoting effect. In this review, we summarize the latest therapeutic strategies involving artificially modified MSC-exosomes in tumor treatment, including employing these exosomes as nanomaterials to carry noncoding RNAs or their inhibitors and anticancer drugs, and genetic engineering modification of MSC-exosomes. We also discuss the feasibility of utilizing artificially modified MSC-exosomes as an emerging cell-free method for tumor treatment and related challenges.

Keywords: mesenchymal stem cells; anti-cancer; drug delivery; exosomes; tumor-targeted therapy.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [81972749, 82203888]; Science and Technology Project of Liaoning [2021JH2/10300020, 2021-BS-204]; Innovative Teams Project in Key Areas of Dalian [2021RT01]; Dalian Science and technology talents plan [2022RQ044]. The funding body played no role in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript.