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Therapy against cancer remains a daunting issue for human health, despite remarkable innovations in many areas of pathology. In situ biosynthesized nanoclusters bestow a novel remedy for carcinogenic cell imaging. Exosomes have received special attention as an efficient tool for the diagnosis of various diseases, including cancers. All types of cells (healthy or diseased) generate exosomes, making them significantly unique for relevant disease diagnosis and treatment. In this contribution, we exploit the possibility of utilizing the exosomes to facilitate chemotherapeutics, viz. the combination of doxorubicin (Dox) and biosynthesized silver nanoclusters in cancer cells. Our study showed a new facile way for bioimaging of cancer cells using biosynthesized silver-DNA nanoclusters, and thus further targeting cancer cells using the relevant cancer exosomes as drug delivery cargo. After isolating exosomes from neoplastic cells, i.e. HeLa, loaded with the drug, and treating other neoplastic cells with cargo-loaded isolated exosomes, we found that cargo-loaded isolated exosomes can readily enter into the targeted cancer cells and efficiently kill these neoplastic cells. This raises the possibility of acting as a novel facile modality for target cancer theranostics with high efficiency and biocompability.

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Exosomes have been emerged as natural nano-carriers and advantageous in the field of nano-medicines owing to lipid bilayer membrane comprising many proteins, nucleic acids and cell debris. Exosomes be secreted from all types of living cells and play a role in cancer diagnosis and therapy because their biological properties such as intercellular communication, modulation of immune responses, biocompatibility and target specificity. Many studies have shown that exosomes can be engineered or modified with different therapeutic substances including nucleic acids, proteins, drugs and other nanomaterials, to improve their specificity, efficiency and safety in nanomedicines. In this review, we summarize the methodologies for isolation of exosomes, the possible mechanisms of cellular uptake and the role of exosomes in cancer diagnosis, followed by the efficiency of modified exosomes in cancer therapy, and discuss them with appropriate examples. We strongly suggest that a clear articulation of the fundamental principles for making exosome-based theranostic platforms will help reveal the unique powers of exosomes in early cancer diagnosis and therapeutics including chemotherapy, gene therapy, immunotherapy and phototherapy.