Surface engineering of exosomes led to an enhanced uptake by triple negative breast cancer cells

[Excerpt] Background: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) represents 10-20% of all breast cancer cases and is characterized by an aggressive progression with metastatic nature and high rates of relapse [1]. Due to a lack of known specific molecular biomarkers for this breast cancer subtype, there are no targeted therapies available, which results in the worst prognosis of all breast cancer subtypes. Hence, the identification of novel tumor-homing ligands, such as peptides, for this particular type of breast cancer is highly important for the development of novel targeted therapies. Over the past few years, exosomes have increasingly earned attention as candidate drug delivery platforms due to their distinctive features. The exosome natural role as a transporter of functional molecules is one of the main characteristics that drive their use as drug delivery vehicles [2,3]. Furthermore, their therapeutic potential can be greatly improved by lipid, protein or even nucleic acid content engineering. Based on this rationale, we hypothesized that the decoration of exosomes with TNBC-specific peptides could lead to an increased uptake. [...]