bims-exocan 2025-08-10 papers

Issue of 2025–08–10
five papers selected by
Muhammad Rizwan, COMSATS University

Front Immunol. 2025 ;16 1595124

Recent progress in the study of exosomes in the gastric cancer immune microenvironment.

Gastric cancer (GC) ranks among the most prevalent forms of cancer and contributes significantly to cancer-related mortality. There exists a pressing need to investigate novel approaches for GC management to improve diagnostic methods, therapeutic interventions, and patient outcomes. Exosomes are nanoscale extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from various cell types that carry a diverse range of biomolecular cargo, including DNA, RNA, proteins, lipids, and other bioactive constituents. They play significant roles in GC pathogenesis and tumor microenvironment (TME) modulation. Exosomes derived from cancer cells can enhance tumor progression, transform the TME, and modulate immune responses. Immune cell-derived exosomes can similarly modulate immune functions and the TME. Immunotherapy represents a GC treatment breakthrough and is expected to show efficacy when combined with exosome-targeted therapy. Abundant research has demonstrated that exosomes are crucial for tumor growth, immune evasion, immune microenvironment reconfiguration, and immunotherapy efficacy in GC. This review describes the role of exosomes in the GC microenvironment, focusing on the mechanisms by which exosomes regulate immune responses to GC, and summarizes the current status of and challenges in the development of exosome-based diagnostics and immunotherapy for GC.

Keywords: exosomes; gastric cancer; immunity; tumor immunotherapy; tumor microenvironment

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2025.1595124

J Pharm Anal. 2025 Jul;15(7): 101170

Exosomes in ovarian cancer: Impact on drug resistance and advances in SERS detection techniques.

Biqing Chen, Xiaohong Qiu, Yang Li.

Ovarian cancer is a prevalent gynecological malignancy with high mortality and low survival rates. The absence of specific symptoms in early stages often leads to late-stage diagnoses. Standard treatment typically includes surgery followed by platinum and paclitaxel chemotherapy. Exosomes, nanoscale vesicles released by various cell types, are key in intercellular communication, carrying biologically active molecules like proteins, lipids, enzymes, mRNA, and miRNAs. They are involved in tumor microenvironment remodeling, angiogenesis, metastasis, and chemoresistance in ovarian cancer. Emerging research highlights exosomes as drug carriers and therapeutic targets to suppress anti-tumor immune responses. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) enables multiplexed, sensitive, and rapid detection of exosome surface proteins, offering advantages such as low background noise, no photobleaching, robustness, and high sensitivity over other detection methods. This review explores the relationship between exosomes and chemoresistance in ovarian cancer, examining the mechanisms by which exosomes contribute to drug resistance and their clinical implications. The goal is to provide new insights into chemoresistance mechanisms, improve diagnosis and intervention strategies, and enhance chemotherapy sensitivity in clinical treatments. In addition, the prospects of exosomes as drug carriers to resist chemical resistance and improve the survival of ovarian cancer patients are summarized. This article emphasizes the role of SERS in detecting ovarian cancer exosomes and advances in exosome detection.

Keywords: Chemotherapy resistance; Exosomes; Extracellular vesicles; Ovarian cancer; Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpha.2024.101170

Acta Naturae. 2025 Apr-Jun;17(2):17(2): 28-40

Extracellular Vesicles As a Source of Biomarkers for Cancer Diagnosis.

L A Ovchinnikova, Y A Lomakin.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are secreted by nearly all mammalian cells and play a major role in intercellular communication via the transport of various active biomolecules. In cancer, pathological EVs contribute to tumor progression by participating in metastasis, angiogenesis, and immune evasion. Recent advancements in EV research have revealed their potential as noninvasive biomarkers. This review addresses the latest advancements in EV isolation and characterization techniques, elucidates the molecular mechanisms underlying EV biogenesis, and examines their functional roles in cancer progression. Furthermore, we discuss emerging strategies that leverage EV profiling and molecular composition analysis, in conjunction with liquid biopsy technologies, offering possible breakthroughs in early cancer diagnosis and treatment monitoring. By synthesizing these insights, this review emphasizes the growing significance of EVs as versatile and powerful diagnostic tools in oncology.

Keywords: EVs; exosomes; extracellular vesicles; liquid biopsy; oncology

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32607/actanaturae.27591

Cancer Biol Ther. 2025 Dec;26(1): 2541991

Advancements in exosome-based cancer diagnosis: from chipsets to nano vaccine.

Nobendu Mukerjee, Subham Sarkar, Daniel Ejim Uti, Prashant Kumar Sharma.

Exosome-based therapies represent a pioneering frontier in cancer treatment, leveraging the natural cellular communication mechanisms encapsulated in exosomes. These nano-sized vesicles serve as carriers of proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids, reflecting the physiological state of their cells of origin, which makes them ideal candidates for targeted cancer therapies and diagnostics. Despite their potential, the path to clinical application is fraught with challenges. This review explores the inherent challenges associated with exosome-based cancer vaccines, focusing on tumor heterogeneity, the technical difficulties in exosome isolation and characterization, the need for standardized protocols, and the scalability of production methods. It also explores the interaction between exosomes and the immune system, a crucial factor in developing effective cancer vaccines. The review explores strategies to improve diagnostic tools, targeted delivery systems, and therapy based on individual tumor profiles, highlighting the need for innovative approaches and collaborative efforts to maximize exosome-based cancer vaccines' therapeutic potential.

Keywords: Exosomes; cancer nano-vaccines; immune system interaction; lab-on-a-chip; nanotechnology; tumor heterogeneity

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15384047.2025.2541991

Front Med (Lausanne). 2025 ;12 1599392

Therapeutic and diagnostic implications of exosomes as natural nanoparticles: a new paradigm in brain cancer disease management.

Shanid Mohiyuddin, Pankaj Dipankar, Belfin Robinson, Andrew Jeyabose, J Karthikeyan.

The clinical translation of safe and effective therapeutic methods for brain cancer treatment is a major challenge that persists in modern medicine. The insufficient drug delivery into the regime of the affected brain tissue due to blood-brain barrier (BBB) restriction leads to a poor prognosis of the disease. However, an alternative strategy using biomaterials like exosomes can offer advancements in the treatment of brain cancer. Exosomes are a type of extracellular microvesicle with a diameter of 30-100 nm, principally functioning as intercellular mediators in the cell signaling process. Due to their biological origin, exosomes demonstrate a significant ability to cross the BBB and possess enhanced biocompatibility, high drug-loading capacity, and low immunogenicity. With the innate property of biomolecule delivery, exosomes also offer enhanced cellular uptake, rendering them exceptional in drug delivery systems. Herein, we focus on the anticancer and diagnostic applications of exosomes for brain cancer therapeutics. The enhancement of the physico-chemical properties of various cell-derived exosomes can be effectively used as a prime drug delivery agent in most treatment strategies. The biphasic and fast drug release in acidic pH of the tumor microenvironment by exosome-mediated drug delivery system contributes to passive targeting, which is often considered advantageous over other drug delivery platforms. These characteristic features are likely to enhance the therapeutic potential and efficacy of the treatment. The exosome loaded with the drug acts as an efficient biomaterial to surpass the BBB, followed by efficient cellular uptake, leading to cytotoxicity in glioblastoma cells. In this review, we summarize the recent updates in theranostic and prognostic strategies using exosomes as a mediator and their prevalence in biomedical applications, with a focus on brain cancer diseases.

Keywords: Blood-Brain Barrier; brain cancer; exosome; extracellular vesicles; iRGD-peptide; liquid biopsy; nanoparticles; theranostic

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2025.1599392