Prostate cancer (PCa) is a common malignant tumor of the male urinary system, and its incidence rate ranks second among male malignant tumors in the world. The incidence of PCa is increasing year by year, which seriously threatens the life and health of men. Surgery, radiotherapy, endocrine therapy, and chemotherapy are common treatments for PCa, but there are still many problems such as tumor recurrence, tumor drug resistance, and serious complications. The field of natural drug delivery systems is rapidly evolving. Among them, exosomes have shown great potential clinical application prospects in targeted drug delivery due to their distinctive characteristics such as stability, non-degradability, a large amount of information, and good biocompatibility. Exosomes with the properties of targeting PCa can target the delivery of drugs to the tumor site, making the drug concentration in the lesion area and improving the therapeutic effect of the drug. The application of a targeted exosome drug delivery system is expected to improve the treatment effect of PCa and reduce the adverse reactions of treatment. Based on a standardized scientific research platform, Creative Biolabs takes the unsolved problems and treatment strategies in the clinic as the starting point of research and provides one-stop engineered exosome services for global researchers.

Construction of Engineered Exosomes Targeting Prostate Cancer

Aptamers are a class of oligonucleotide sequences or peptide sequences that can bind to targets with high specificity. Based on shape complementarity, they can selectively bind to a variety of targets, including ions, small molecules, proteins, bacteria, cells, etc. Aptamers have comparable affinity and specificity to antibodies. Therefore, by encapsulating drugs in exosomes with surface-modified aptamers, a targeted exosome drug delivery system with both target recognition and drug delivery functions can be constructed. Currently, multiple aptamers have been found that can be designed for targeted therapy of PCa. Studies have shown that E3 aptamer bound to lipid molecules can be inserted into the exosome phospholipid bilayer through hydrophobicity, to obtain engineered exosomes with E3 aptamer (E3-Exo) on the surface E3-Exo can be internalized into PCa cells.

Therapeutic Efficacy of Engineered Exosomes Targeting PCa

Studies have found that SIRT6 is highly expressed in PCa tumor tissue, which can promote the proliferation and migration of PCa cells, as well as the occurrence and metastasis of PCa. Therefore, by injecting E3-Exo carrying SIRT6 interfering RNA (siRNA-SIRT6) in the PCa mouse model, the researchers have found that E3-Exo can be specifically targeted to PCa cells and deliver siRNA-SIRT6 to PCa cells. The tumor size of the mice is significantly reduced, and tumor metastasis to the liver is significantly inhibited. These data indicate that the exosomes can significantly inhibit the development and metastasis of PCa. This study shows that the engineering of aptamer modification has great application prospects in targeted therapy.

Fig.1 Targeted inhibition of SIRT6 via engineered exosomes impairs tumorigenesis and metastasis in prostate cancer.^1,2

Targeted modification on the surface of exosomes can make exosomes have tumor-homing and penetrating properties, and then effectively deliver the loaded drug molecules to the tumor site. Engineered exosomes targeting specific tumors are providing a promising gene delivery platform for future cancer therapy. According to the broad application prospects of engineered exosomes targeting specific tumors, Creative Biolabs has launched targeting construction services and drug loading services for engineered exosomes that target prostate cancer and other tumors. Please contact us with your needs and ideas to develop a suitable solution for you.

References

1. Han, Q.; et al. Targeted inhibition of SIRT6 via engineered exosomes impairs tumorigenesis and metastasis in prostate cancer. Theranostics. 2021, 11(13):6526-6541.
2. under Open Access license CC BY 4.0, without modification.

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