Biogenesis, Isolation, and Detection of Exosomes and Their Potential in Therapeutics and Diagnostics

Abstract

The increasing research and rapid developments in the field of exosomes provide insights into their role and significance in human health. Exosomes derived from various sources, such as mesenchymal stem cells, cardiac cells, and tumor cells, to name a few, can be potential therapeutic agents for the treatment of diseases and could also serve as biomarkers for the early detection of diseases. Cellular components of exosomes, several proteins, lipids, and miRNAs hold promise as novel biomarkers for the detection of various diseases. The structure of exosomes enables them as drug delivery vehicles. Since exosomes exhibit potential therapeutic applications, their efficient isolation from complex biological/clinical samples and precise real-time analysis becomes significant. With the advent of microfluidics, nano-biosensors are being designed to capture exosomes efficiently and rapidly. Herein, we have summarized the history, biogenesis, characteristics, functions, and applications of exosomes, along with the isolation, detection, and quantification techniques. The implications of surface modifications to enhance specificity have been outlined. The review also sheds light on the engineered nanoplatforms being developed for exosome detection and capture.

Identification of exosome protein panels as predictive biomarkers for non-small cell lung cancer

“…Exosome proteins provide new insights for the early screening and metastasis prediction of lung cancer. Exosomal proteins have been reported to be of great clinical value in the diagnosis, therapeutic targets and prediction of the therapeutic efficacy of lung cancer [ 40 ]. Nevertheless, there is still a lack of noninvasive clinical biomarkers for the early screening and prediction of metastasis in lung cancer.…”

Exosomes - breakthrough in the regenerative medicine and a way to improve the quality of the life

“…The biogenesis of exosomes can be summarized in several key steps. [3] The process begins with endocytosis, during which the cell membrane invaginates to form early endosomes. These early endosomes contain materials internalized from the cell surface, including membrane proteins, extracellular fluids, and other molecules.…”

“…These early endosomes contain materials internalized from the cell surface, including membrane proteins, extracellular fluids, and other molecules. [3,4] Early endosomes mature into multivesicular bodies (MVBs) through a process involving the ESCRT machinery. The ESCRT machinery consists of four protein complexes: ESCRT-0, ESCRT-I, ESCRT-II, and ESCRT-III that work together to facilitate the formation of intraluminal vesicles (ILVs) within the MVBs.…”

“…This cargo can include signaling molecules, receptors, microRNAs, and various bioactive molecules. [3,5] Mature MVBs containing ILVs have two potential fates. They can either fuse with lysosomes for degradation, leading to the breakdown of the cargo, or they can traffic to the cell surface for exosome release.…”

Increasing the sensitivity and accuracy of detecting exosomes as biomarkers for cancer monitoring using optical nanobiosensors

“…In this instance, transferrin functioned as a ligand by binding to the transferrin receptor located on the EXO surface. The research investigated the potential of MTNs for various theranostic applications related to EXOs, in addition to their use in isolating EXOs derived from blood [ 122 , 123 ].…”