Recent Patents on Exosome-Derived Therapeutic Agents

Exosomes are extracellular vesicles that are 30-150 nm in diameter. Exosomes have recently emerged as critical mediators of cell-cell communication by the transfer of DNA, RNA, and protein structured macromolecules between cells and tissues. With the advantage of the distant endocrine signalling, cancer cells use exosomes to suppress the immune system, next contribute to the formation of premetastatic niches and angiogenesis. On the other hand, researchers have been benefited from the immunosuppressive, natural carrier, and tissue regenerating roles of exosomes and disclosed patents that are claiming the utilities of exosomes for treating chronic inflammation, autoimmunity related diseases, targeted drug delivery vehicles, and tissue regenerating agents. Moreover, the use of exosomes as vaccine components to prevent cancer, therapeutic molecules for cancer treatment, and the host of biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of cancer are among the issues that are protected by recent patents. The most inspiring one among them could be the incorporation of a therapeutic siRNA that is complementary to oncogenic KRASG12D into CD47+ exosomes for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. The other one could be the demonstration of the utility of exosomes secreted from dendritic as a cancer vaccine component in phase II clinical trial. It is clear that we have started to understand the fundamentals of exosomes. However, more studies are needed to develop exosomebased cancer vaccines, drug delivery vehicles, immune-stimulating agents that evoke immune cells to kill the cancer cells, and diagnostic and prognostic markers for monitoring cancer in the next years.

Keywords: Cancer Vaccines, Chemoresistance, Cancer Diagnosis, Drug Delivery Vehicles, Dexosomes, Exosomes, Genetically Engineered Exosomes, Intercellular Communication, Immune Stimulation, Immune Supp-ression, Immune Tolerance, Multivesicular Bodies, MiRNA, Nucleic Acid Delivery, Pre-metastatic Niche, SiRNA, ShRNA, Tissue Regeneration, Tumour Microenvironment, Viruses.