Exosomes engineering for drug delivery

The objective of our research is to optimize the isolation, purification and characterization of exosomes from selected cultured cells and perform exosome engineering for diagnostic and/or therapeutic applications.

Cell to cell communication is essential for all multicellular organisms. Aside from exchanging information through the secretion of soluble factors or by direct interaction, cells also naturally release membrane-derived micro- and nano-sized vesicles that are shuttled to neighboring and/or distant cells. These extracellular vesicles (EVs) are secreted by almost all cells and can be found in the plasma as well as other bodily fluids, including breast milk, urine, saliva and semen. Among the different types of EVs, the microvesicle subset of EVs are usually larger than 0.2 μm in size and are released from the plasma membrane by shedding or budding. In contrast, the secreted nanovesicles referred to as exosomes are between 30-120 nm in diameter and form via inward budding of endosomal membranes in the late endosomes. This biogenesis mechanism gives exosomes a unique lipid composition and enables natural loading of their lumen with bioactive constituents such as nucleic acids. The encapsulated cargo of these endogenous carriers is protected by the lipid bilayer against plasma and immune system components, and upon interaction with the recipient cell may provoke functional and phenotypical changes. Moreover, EVs are enriched with proteins that participate in important biological functions including adhesion and membrane trafficking molecules, heat shock proteins, enzymes, signal transduction proteins, cytokines, proteinases and cell-specific antigens. It has been proposed that these unique protein components allow exosomes to specifically interact with target cells and that cargo delivery occurs in a non-random process.

We are also engineering innovative hybrid shuttles composed of exosomes and lipid nanovectors (LNVs). This project is funded by Phospholipid Research Center and you can find more details external pagehere.


PRC
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