Strategies for Exosome functionalization, Review and Update

Exosomes are endosome originated extracellular nanoparticles composed of lipid bilayer and proteins involved in intercellular communication. Depending on the cell type, exosomes have different natural compounds such as proteins, lipids and nucleic acids from their donor cells and act as a non-invasive signaling system in regulating various biological pathways. Exosomes, due to their stability in body fluids, their inherent potential for targeted transport of substances between cells, their non-immunogenicity, and relative structural similarity to cells, serve as promising nanocarriers for effective drug delivery. These natural nanostructures also could be used for early detection and treatment of different diseases including cancer.In addition, the structural diversity of exosomes facilitates their surface decorating by different methods such as genetic engineering, covalent and non-covalent modification, chemical and physical methods and microfluidic technology. These modifications potentiate their use for a wide range of therapeutic applications. Efficiency and possibility of high-level production and methods of exosome modification are very important in determining the scope of clinical applications and it is necessary to study the contents and internal and external structures of exosomes through different techniques before engineering exosomes for different applications. This article focuses on examining different strategies for exosome engineering, the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches, along with the efficiency of engineered exosomes in modern biomedical applications.

Strategies for Exosome functionalization, Review and Update Keywords:

Exosome engineering , Non-coding , Cancer