Background: Exosomes (Exos) can safely and effectively deliver therapeutic substances to glioma cells; however, their blood-brain barrier (BBB) crossing capacity remains limited. Focused ultrasound (FUS) can transiently, reversibly, and locally open the BBB, while the effects of FUS combined with Exos-miRNA on the treatment of glioma have not been explored to date.
Methods: Exos were extracted by differential centrifugation and the efficacy of miR-1208-loaded Exos combined with FUS in the treatment of glioma was detected by CCK-8, colony formation, flow cytometry, transwell and tumour xenografts assays. The METTL3-mediated regulation of IGF2BP2 on mRNA stability of NUP214 was determined by MeRIP-qPCR, half-life and RIP assays.
Results: We used Exos secreted by mesenchymal stem cells as carriers for the tumour suppressor gene miR-1208, and following FUS irradiation, more Exos carrying miR-1208 were allowed to pass through the BBB, and the uptake of miR-1208 in Exos by glioma cells was promoted, thereby achieving high-efficiency tumour-suppressive effects. Furthermore, the molecular mechanism underlying this effect was elucidated that miR-1208 downregulated the m6A methylation level of NUP214 mRNA by negatively regulating the expression of METTL3, thereby NUP214 expression and TGF-β pathway activity were suppressed.
Conclusions: MiR-1208-loaded Exos combined with FUS is expected to become an effective glioma treatment and deserves further clinical evaluation.
© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.