13.3
Impact Factor
23.90
CiteScore
< 5 days
First Decision
Theranostics 2019; 9(4):1015-1028. doi:10.7150/thno.30853 This issue Cite
Review
Department of Molecular Oncology, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgical Hospital & National Center for Liver Cancer, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200438, China
Exosomes have great potential to be drug delivery vehicles due to their natural material transportation properties, intrinsic long-term circulatory capability, and excellent biocompatibility, which are suitable for delivering a variety of chemicals, proteins, nucleic acids, and gene therapeutic agents. However, an effective method of loading specific protein agents into exosomes for absorption by target cells is still lacking. The application potential of exosome is still limited. In this review, we discussed the methods for loading specific treating molecules (proteins, nucleic acids and small chemicals) into exosomes, the design strategies for cell and tissue targeting, and the factors for exosome formation. This review can be used as a reference for further research as well as for the development of therapeutic exosomes.
Keywords: exosome, drug carrier, therapeutic strategy