Exosomes in Gliomas: Biogenesis, Isolation, and Preliminary Applications in Nanomedicine

Abstract

Exosomes are phospholipid-based particles endogenously produced by both normal and tumor cells. Initially identified as a pathway for shuttling cellular waste, for a long time they were thought to act as “garbage bags”, and only in the past few years have they emerged as a promising drug delivery system. In this review, we provide an overview of the knowledge about exosome architecture and biogenesis and the recent progress in isolation methods. Furthermore, we describe the mechanisms involved in both extra- and intracellular communication with a focus on glioma brain tumors. Glioma is considered a rare disease and is the most prominent aggressive brain malignancy. How exosomes target glial tumoral cells in vivo remains largely unknown. However, they are able to influence numerous physio-pathological aspects. Here, we discuss the role they play in this heterogeneous and complex microenvironment and their potential applications.

Exosomes: Isolation, characterization, and biomedical applications

“…Exosomal biogenesis and release differ from other microvesicles in that they are not released by direct budding from plasma membrane; however, they are generated within multivesicular bodies (MVBs) or late endosomes that fuse with the plasma membrane upon maturation (Romano et al, 2020; Figure 3). Briefly, the process is initiated by inward invagination of plasma membrane to produce endocytic vesicles.…”

DDRugging glioblastoma: understanding and targeting the DNA damage response to improve future therapies

“…In addition to the aforementioned needed improvement in preclinical models that better reflect postsurgical residual disease, an important factor alongside the development of such multimodal strategies will be further improvements in the efficient delivery of therapeutically active doses of drugs beyond the BBB, which remains a significant challenge in glioblastoma therapy [ 3 ]. Potential innovations on the horizon include the use of MRI‐directed magnetic nanoparticles [ 217 , 218 ], surgical delivery of in situ gelling agents [ 219 , 220 ] and enhanced intrathecal/cerebrospinal fluid delivery using novel viral vectors, antibody ligands or exosomes [ 221 , 222 , 223 ]. Such approaches, in addition to traditional oral or intravenous delivery approaches, coupled with novel ways to disrupt the BBB, such as ultrasound [ 224 , 225 ] or TTFields [ 226 ]‐based approaches, will hopefully provide the best chance for DDR‐targeting approaches to provide much‐needed clinical benefit to patients and families faced with the devastating diagnosis of a high‐grade glioma.…”

Extracellular Vesicles and Renal Fibrosis: An Odyssey toward a New Therapeutic Approach

“…Two main mechanisms govern this process: endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT)-dependent mechanism or ESCRT-independent mechanism [8,9]. In the former, ubiquitinated proteins are selected by the members of the ESCRT complex [9][10][11], while in the latter, sphingosine-1-phosphate, Hsc70, and tetraspanins participate in protein selection [9,12]. In addition, the sorting of some proteins may depend on their interaction with lipid raft components [13].…”