bims-exocan 2025-06-15 papers

Issue of 2025–06–15
four papers selected by
Muhammad Rizwan, COMSATS University

World J Gastrointest Oncol. 2025 May 15. 17(5): 104776

Circulating exosomal miR-17-92 cluster serves as a novel noninvasive diagnostic marker for patients with gastric cancer.

Ye Han, Xing-Po Guo, Qiao-Ming Zhi, Jing-Jing Xu, Fei Liu, Yu-Ting Kuang.

BACKGROUND: Gastric cancer (GC) is among the most common malignant tumors and remains a leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Furthermore, exosomal miRNAs are regarded as promising noninvasive biomarkers for diagnosing malignant tumors.
AIM: To investigate the expression of exosomal miR-17-92 clusters and develop a potential biomarker for GC diagnosis.
METHODS: Exosomes were isolated from serum samples obtained from 72 GC patients and 20 healthy controls. The isolated exosomes were validated using transmission electron microscopy, nanoparticle tracking analysis, and western blotting. Exosomal RNA was then extracted, and the expression profile of the miR-17-92 cluster was analyzed using qRT-PCR. Statistical methods were employed to evaluate the relationship between the serum exosomal miR-17-92 cluster expression and the clinicopathological parameters of GC patients as well as to assess the diagnostic utility of these miRNAs.
RESULTS: The expression of four members of the exosomal miR-17-92 cluster-miR-17, miR-18, miR-19a, and miR-92-was significantly upregulated in the serum samples of patients with GC compared with those of healthy controls. The miR-17-92 cluster panel demonstrated substantially higher clinical diagnostic value for GC than any individual component or pair. Additionally, the expression of traditional tumor biomarkers-carcinoembryonic antigen and carbohydrate antigen 19-9-was significantly elevated in the serum of patients with GC compared with that of healthy controls. Each biomarker, whether alone or in combination, effectively differentiated the patients from healthy controls. Furthermore, a combined panel of the two traditional tumor biomarkers and the four miR-17-92 cluster members exhibited the highest diagnostic accuracy for GC. Elevated miR-17-92 expression was also strongly associated with tumor size, tumor depth, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, and tumor-node-metastasis stage.
CONCLUSION: Our findings revealed that the circulating exosomal miR-17-92 cluster may be used as a potential noninvasive biomarker to improve diagnostic efficiency for GC.

Keywords: Diagnosis; Exosome; Gastric cancer; Serum; miR-17-92 cluster

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4251/wjgo.v17.i5.104776

Mol Biomed. 2025 Jun 10. 6(1): 41

Exosomes in inflammation and cancer: from bench to bedside applications.

Shiyuan Huang, Fang Yan, Yi Qiu, Tao Liu, Wenjin Zhang, Yige Yang, Rao Zhong, Yang Yang, Xi Peng.

Exosomes, lipid bilayer nanovesicles secreted by nearly all cell types, play pivotal roles in intercellular communication by transferring proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids. This review comprehensively summarizes their multiple functions in inflammation and cancer. In inflammation, exosomes exhibit context-dependent pro- or anti-inflammatory effects: they promote acute responses by delivering cytokines and miRNAs to activate immune cells, yet suppress chronic inflammation via immunoregulatory molecules. Two representative inflammatory diseases, namely sepsis and inflammatory bowel disease, were highlighted to elucidate their roles in the acute and chronic inflammatory diseases. In cancer, exosomes orchestrate tumor microenvironment (TME) remodeling by facilitating angiogenesis, metastasis, and immune evasion through interactions with cancer-associated fibroblasts, tumor-associated macrophages, and extracellular matrix components. Furthermore, exosomes can facilitate the transition from inflammation to cancer by impacting pertinent signaling pathways via their transported oncogenic and inflammatory molecules. Tumor-derived exosomes also serve as non-invasive biomarkers correlating with disease progression. Clinically, exosomes demonstrate promise as therapeutic agents and drug carriers, evidenced by ongoing trials targeting inflammatory diseases and cancers. However, challenges in isolation standardization, scalable production, and understanding functional heterogeneity hinder clinical translation. Future research should prioritize elucidating cargo-specific mechanisms, optimizing engineering strategies, and advancing personalized exosome-based therapies. By bridging molecular insights with clinical applications, exosomes hold great potential in precision medicine for inflammation and oncology.

Keywords: Cancer; Clinical translation; Exosomes; Inflammation; Microenvironment

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s43556-025-00280-9

Front Immunol. 2025 ;16 1586892

Dendritic cell-derived exosomes as anti-cancer cell-free agents: new insights into enhancing immunogenic effects.

Tikhon Redkin, Victoria Turubanova.

The secretome of immune cells is currently a major focus in both diagnostic and therapeutic contexts. Cell-free therapeutic agents attract even more attention in cancer immunotherapy research, as their properties are comparable to, and sometimes surpass, those of cell-based immunotherapy. This is particularly evident when dendritic cell-based vaccines are compared with dendritic cell-derived exosomes (dexosomes). However, there is still significant potential for further research and optimization. We propose incorporating immunogenic cell death stimuli into the production of dendritic cell-derived exosomes in order to improve their effectiveness as a cell-free anti-cancer treatment. In this review, we suggest a new strategy to enhance the immunogenic potential of dexosomes, as well as summarize and compare immunogenic proprieties of dendritic cells and dendritic cells-derived exosomes as anti-cancer agents.

Keywords: cancer treatment; dendritic cell-derived exosomes; extracellular vesicles; immunogenic cell death; immunotherapy

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2025.1586892

Mol Cancer. 2025 Jun 07. 24(1): 166

Exosomes in cancer nanomedicine: biotechnological advancements and innovations.

Jacky J J Liu, Duanrui Liu, Sally K Y To, Alice S T Wong.

Exosomes, as natural intercellular messengers, are gaining prominence as delivery vehicles in nanomedicine, offering a superior alternative to conventional synthetic nanoparticles for cancer therapeutics. Unlike lipid, polymer, or metallic nanoparticles, which often face challenges related to immunogenicity, targeting precision, and off-tumor toxicity, exosomes can effectively encapsulate a diverse range of therapeutic agents while exhibiting low toxicity, favorable pharmacokinetics, and organotropic properties. This review examines recent advancements in exosome bioengineering over the past decade. Innovations such as microfluidics-based platforms, nanoporation, fusogenic hybrids, and genetic engineering have significantly improved loading efficiencies, production scalability, and pharmacokinetics of exosomes. These advancements facilitate tumor-specific cargo delivery, resulting in substantial improvements in retention and efficacy essential for clinical success. Moreover, enhanced biodistribution, targeting, and bioavailability-through strategies such as cell selection, surface modifications, membrane composition alterations, and biomaterial integration-suggests a promising future for exosomes as an ideal nanomedicine delivery platform. We also highlight the translational impact of these strategies through emerging clinical trials. Additionally, we outline a framework for clinical translation that focuses on: cargo selection, organotropic cell sourcing, precision loading methodologies, and route-specific delivery optimization. In summary, this review emphasizes the potential of exosomes to overcome the pharmacokinetic and safety challenges that have long impeded oncology drug development, thus enabling safer and more effective cancer treatments.

Keywords: Cancer; Drug delivery; Engineered exosomes; Extracellular vesicles; Nanomedicine

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12943-025-02372-0