Extracellular Vesicle-Based Drug Delivery Systems

A special issue of Pharmaceutics (ISSN 1999-4923). This special issue belongs to the section "Drug Delivery and Controlled Release".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2024) | Viewed by 218

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Biotechnology, Pukyong National University, 45 Yongso-ro, Busan 48513, Republic of Korea
Interests: extracellular vesicles; cancer therapy; nanomedicine

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of the journal Pharmaceutics will be devoted to the presentation of recent advances in the study of extracellular vesicles for drug delivery. In the most recent decade, extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as a key mediator of cell-to-cell communication, and their significance in a range of physiological processes has inspired researchers to exploit EVs as novel therapeutics. In particular, the unique characteristics of EVs when interacting with other cells provide an exceptional benefit that can be internalized into target cells. Therefore, with such advantages, EVs have been hugely studied as a promising candidate for developing and delivering innate cargo, drugs, and nucleic acids.

Topics of interest for this Special Issue include EV-based drug delivery systems for targeted therapy, gene therapy, regenerative therapy, and related concepts. Additionally, applications of EVs on targeted diagnosis and discovery of new characteristics of EVs as a drug delivery and cargo delivery system will be covered.

Dr. Wooram Um
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • extracellular vesicles
  • exosome
  • drug delivery

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 10346 KiB  
Article
Development of 5-Fluorouracil/pH-Responsive Adjuvant-Embedded Extracellular Vesicles for Targeting αvβ3 Integrin Receptors in Tumors
by Jiseung Kim, Eunsol Lee and Eun Seong Lee
Pharmaceutics 2024, 16(5), 599; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics16050599 (registering DOI) - 29 Apr 2024
Abstract
To selectively target and treat murine melanoma B16BL6 tumors expressing αvβ3 integrin receptors, we engineered tumor-specific functional extracellular vesicles (EVs) tailored for the targeted delivery of antitumor drugs. This objective was achieved through the incorporation of a pH-responsive adjuvant, cyclic [...] Read more.
To selectively target and treat murine melanoma B16BL6 tumors expressing αvβ3 integrin receptors, we engineered tumor-specific functional extracellular vesicles (EVs) tailored for the targeted delivery of antitumor drugs. This objective was achieved through the incorporation of a pH-responsive adjuvant, cyclic arginine-glycine-aspartic acid peptide (cRGD, serving as a tumor-targeting ligand), and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU, employed as a model antitumor drug). The pH-responsive adjuvant, essential for modulating drug release, was synthesized by chemically conjugating 3-(diethylamino)propylamine (DEAP) to deoxycholic acid (DOCA, a lipophilic substance capable of integrating into EVs’ membranes), denoted as DEAP-DOCA. The DOCA, preactivated using N-(2-aminoethyl)maleimide (AEM), was chemically coupled with the thiol group of the cRGD-DOCA through the thiol–maleimide click reaction, resulting in the formation of cRGD-DOCA. Subsequently, DEAP-DOCA, cRGD-DOCA, and 5-FU were efficiently incorporated into EVs using a sonication method. The resulting tumor-targeting EVs, expressing cRGD ligands, demonstrated enhanced in vitro/in vivo cellular uptake specifically for B16BL6 tumors expressing αvβ3 integrin receptors. The ionization characteristics of the DEAP in DEAP-DOCA induced destabilization of the EVs membrane at pH 6.5 through protonation of the DEAP substance, thereby expediting 5-FU release. Consequently, an improvement in the in vivo antitumor efficacy was observed for B16BL6 tumors. Based on these comprehensive in vitro/in vivo findings, we anticipate that this EV system holds substantial promise as an exceptionally effective platform for antitumor therapeutic delivery. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extracellular Vesicle-Based Drug Delivery Systems)
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