Sheikhhossein, H.H.; Iommelli, F.; Di Pietro, N.; Curia, M.C.; Piattelli, A.; Palumbo, R.; Roviello, G.N.; De Rosa, V. Exosome-like Systems: From Therapies to Vaccination for Cancer Treatment and Prevention—Exploring the State of the Art. Vaccines2024, 12, 519.
Sheikhhossein, H.H.; Iommelli, F.; Di Pietro, N.; Curia, M.C.; Piattelli, A.; Palumbo, R.; Roviello, G.N.; De Rosa, V. Exosome-like Systems: From Therapies to Vaccination for Cancer Treatment and Prevention—Exploring the State of the Art. Vaccines 2024, 12, 519.
Sheikhhossein, H.H.; Iommelli, F.; Di Pietro, N.; Curia, M.C.; Piattelli, A.; Palumbo, R.; Roviello, G.N.; De Rosa, V. Exosome-like Systems: From Therapies to Vaccination for Cancer Treatment and Prevention—Exploring the State of the Art. Vaccines2024, 12, 519.
Sheikhhossein, H.H.; Iommelli, F.; Di Pietro, N.; Curia, M.C.; Piattelli, A.; Palumbo, R.; Roviello, G.N.; De Rosa, V. Exosome-like Systems: From Therapies to Vaccination for Cancer Treatment and Prevention—Exploring the State of the Art. Vaccines 2024, 12, 519.
Abstract
Cancer remains one of the main causes of death in the world due to its increasing incidence and treatment difficulties. Although several progresses have been done in this field, innovative approaches are needed to reduce tumor incidence, progression and spreading. In particular, the development of cancer vaccines is currently ongoing like both preventive and therapeutic strategy. This concept is not new, but few vaccines have been approved in oncology. Antigen-based vaccination emerges as a promising strategy, leveraging specific tumor antigens to activate the immune system response. However, challenges persist in finding suitable delivery systems and antigen preparation methods. Exosomes (EXs) are highly heterogeneous bilayered vesicles which carry several molecule types in the extracellular space. The peculiarity is that they may be released from different cells and may be able to induce a direct or indirect stimulation of immune system. In particular, EX-based vaccines may cause anti-tumor immune attack or produce memory cells recognizing cancer antigens and inhibit disease appearance. This review delves into EXs composition, biogenesis, and immune-modulating properties exploring their role as tool for prevention and therapy in solid tumors. Finally, here we describe future research directions to optimize vaccine efficacy and realize the full potential of EX-based cancer immunotherapy.
Keywords
exosomes; cancer vaccines: immune system
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Life Sciences
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.