Department of Pathology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China.
Department of Pharmacy, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 87 Xiangya Road, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, China.
Mol Cancer. 2020 Nov 12;19(1):160. doi: 10.1186/s12943-020-01278-3.
In the era of the rapid development of cancer immunotherapy, there is a high level of interest in the application of cell-released small vesicles that stimulate the immune system. As cell-derived nanovesicles, exosomes show great promise in cancer immunotherapy because of their immunogenicity and molecular transfer function. The cargoes carried on exosomes have been recently identified with improved technological advances and play functional roles in the regulation of immune responses. In particular, exosomes derived from tumor cells and immune cells exhibit unique composition profiles that are directly involved in anticancer immunotherapy. More importantly, exosomes can deliver their cargoes to targeted cells and thus influence the phenotype and immune-regulation functions of targeted cells. Accumulating evidence over the last decade has further revealed that exosomes can participate in multiple cellular processes contributing to cancer development and therapeutic effects, showing the dual characteristics of promoting and suppressing cancer. The potential of exosomes in the field of cancer immunotherapy is huge, and exosomes may become the most effective cancer vaccines, as well as targeted antigen/drug carriers. Understanding how exosomes can be utilized in immune therapy is important for controlling cancer progression; additionally, exosomes have implications for diagnostics and the development of novel therapeutic strategies. This review discusses the role of exosomes in immunotherapy as carriers to stimulate an anti-cancer immune response and as predictive markers for immune activation; furthermore, it summarizes the mechanism and clinical application prospects of exosome-based immunotherapy in human cancer.
在癌症免疫治疗快速发展的时代，人们对利用能够刺激免疫系统的细胞释放的小泡（即细胞来源的纳米囊泡）产生了浓厚的兴趣。作为细胞衍生的纳米囊泡，外泌体由于其免疫原性和分子传递功能，在癌症免疫治疗中具有很大的应用潜力。外泌体所携带的货物最近随着技术的进步得到了鉴定，并在免疫反应的调节中发挥了功能作用。特别是，肿瘤细胞和免疫细胞来源的外泌体表现出独特的组成谱，直接参与抗癌免疫治疗。更重要的是，外泌体可以将其货物递送到靶细胞，并因此影响靶细胞的表型和免疫调节功能。过去十年中的大量证据进一步表明，外泌体可以参与多种细胞过程，有助于癌症的发展和治疗效果，表现出促进和抑制癌症的双重特征。外泌体在癌症免疫治疗领域的潜力巨大，外泌体可能成为最有效的癌症疫苗，以及靶向抗原/药物载体。了解外泌体如何在免疫治疗中作为刺激抗肿瘤免疫反应的载体以及作为免疫激活的预测标志物来发挥作用，对于控制癌症进展具有重要意义；此外，外泌体对于诊断和开发新的治疗策略具有重要意义。本综述讨论了外泌体作为载体在免疫治疗中刺激抗肿瘤免疫反应以及作为预测标志物用于免疫激活的作用；此外，还总结了基于外泌体的免疫疗法在人类癌症中的作用机制和临床应用前景。
