Exosomes as Efficient Nanocarriers in Osteosarcoma: Biological Functions and Potential Clinical Applications

Abstract

Osteosarcoma is the most common bone tumor affecting both adolescents and children. Although localized osteosarcoma has an overall survival of >70% in the clinic, metastatic, refractory, and recurrent osteosarcoma have poorer survival rates. Exosomes are extracellular vesicles released by cells and originally thought to be a way for cells to discard unwanted products. Currently, exosomes have been reported to be involved in intercellular cross-talk and induce changes in cellular behavior by transferring cargoes (proteins, DNA, RNA, and lipids) between cells. Exosomes regulate osteosarcoma progression, and processes such as tumorigenesis, proliferation, metastasis, angiogenesis, immune evasion, and drug resistance. Increasing evidences shows that exosomes have significant potential in promoting osteosarcoma progression and development. In this review, we describe the current research status of exosomes in osteosarcoma, focusing on the biological functions of osteosarcoma exosomes as well as their application in osteosarcoma as diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets.

Stem cell membrane-camouflaged targeted delivery system in tumor

“…Extracellular vesicles (EVs), like exosomes, have drawn a lot of interest because of their potential use in nanomedicine as a drug delivery method [ 70 , 71 ]. With their low immunogenicity, great biocompatibility, and stability against traditional synthetic carriers, EVs derived from stem cells offer many benefits that open up new possibilities for the delivery of therapeutic drugs to target cells.…”

Lipid-Based Nano-Sized Cargos as a Promising Strategy in Bone Complications: A Review

“…Exosomes are naturally derived vesicles and do not have production-related hurdles. However, they are facing difficulty in the lack of a versatile method of their isolation and collection, specific mechanisms of action, quantification, and characterization in body fluids, stability of engineered exosomes [ 144 ]. Further, some release profiles from exosome integrated scaffolds reveal that assimilating exosomes to scaffolds via physical adsorption is not enough to retain exosomes for a longer time, especially in the curing of bone defects.…”

Research Progress of Exosome-Loaded miRNA in Osteosarcoma

“…Therefore, by regulating the production, secretion, and delivery of exosomes, tumor progression can be regulated by affecting the TME. 63 , 64 At the same time, exploiting the natural targeting of exosomes in gene therapy 65 and drug delivery 66 seems to be a feasible scheme, which will revolutionize the development of OS treatment. Exosomes secreted from different cells have different functions that are activated through different regulatory pathways.…”