Science Advances: Zhang Xu et al. of Jiangsu University develop engineered exosomes to treat cancer

Neutrophils are the most abundant innate immune cells in the body's circulation and are the first line of defense against infection

Exosomes are vesicle-type natural biological particles secreted by cells and play a role in communication between cells

On January 12, 2022, Zhang Xu's team from Jiangsu University School of Medicine published a research paper entitled: Engineered neutrophil-derived exosome-like vesicles for targeted cancer therapy in Science Advances , a sub-journal of Science .

This study developed a simple and efficient engineered neutrophil-derived exosomes (N-Ex) and neutrophil-derived nanovesicles (NNV) as a safe and effective drug for tumor therapy.

The research team induced tumor cell apoptosis by delivering cytotoxic proteins and activating the caspase signaling pathway through neutrophil-derived exosomes (N-Ex)

Exosome-like nanovesicles (NVs) have been proven to be a convenient and reliable nano-delivery vehicle, and the research team further fabricated high-yield nanovesicles from neutrophils

In addition, neutrophil-derived nanovesicles (NNVs) loaded with doxorubicin and modified with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) selectively accumulated in tumor sites under the action of an external magnetic field, which could effectively inhibit tumor growth.

Overall, this study developed a method for simple and efficient production of neutrophil-derived nanovesicles,

The research team isolated exosomes from peripheral blood neutrophils of healthy donors and showed that this neutrophil-derived exosome (N-Ex) was cytotoxic to tumor cells by activating apoptosis signaling pathway

Original source:

JIAHUI ZHANG, et al.