Dear Colleagues,

Recent progress in the field of extracellular vesicles (EVs) has highlighted the importance of EVs as a biomarker in various physiological and pathological conditions including cancer.  The role of EVs in early events of malignancy leading to cancer progression and metastasis has been demonstrated in various cancer types, establishing a rationale for exploiting EVs for early cancer diagnosis and therapy. EVs (EVs) are a part of the cell secretome with a lipid-bilayered vesicular structure containing cellular cargo of lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. All cells secrete heterogeneous populations of EVs which differ by size range (50-1000 nm) and sub-cellular origin (plasma membrane, endosome). Exosomes, which are often reported in the literature are a subtype of EVs with a typical size range of 50-200 nm and endosomal sub-cellular origin. As recommended by the International Society of Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV), we prefer to use “extracellular vesicles” unless the study provides clear evidence of identification of specific sub-type of EVs.

This special issue aims to add to the understanding of the role of EVs in early cancer diagnosis and therapy, and seek answers to some of the important issues in the field: How many roles do EVs have in cancer progression? Does all sub-type of EVs contribute to cancer progression? Is there a difference between the role of small EVs/large EVs in cancer progression? Can we block EV secretion as a therapeutic strategy? Can we use EVs as drug delivery agents and therapeutic targets against cancer? How do normal cell-secreted EVs vary from cancer cell-secreted EVs? Does the physicochemical environment alter EV secretion? Within this aim and scope, in this special issue of “Extracellular Vesicles for Early Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy”, we welcome original research articles and reviews from diverse backgrounds and expertise working in the field of EVs. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the characterization of different sub-types of EVs, the role of EVs in cancer progression, engineering EVs for cancer-targeted drug delivery, EVs as cancer therapeutic targets, and EVs-based biomarker discovery for early diagnosis of cancer. We look forward to receiving your contribution.

Dr. Santosh Aryal
Dr. Sagar Rayamajhi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pharmaceutics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• extracellular vesicles sub-types
• extracellular vesicles for drug delivery
• extracellular vesicles as cancer therapeutic target
• extracellular vesicles-based biomarkers