Exosomes and Cancer Stem Cells in Cancer Immunity: Current Reports and Future Directions

Lee, Na-Kyeong; Kothandan, Vinoth Kumar; Kothandan, Sangeetha; Byun, Youngro; Hwang, Seung-Rim

doi:10.3390/vaccines9050441

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Exosomes and Cancer Stem Cells in Cancer Immunity: Current Reports and Future Directions

by

Na-Kyeong Lee

^1,†,

Vinoth Kumar Kothandan

^2,†,

Sangeetha Kothandan

³,

Youngro Byun

¹ and

Seung-Rim Hwang

^2,4,*

¹

College of Pharmacy, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Korea

²

Department of Biomedical Sciences, Graduate School, Chosun University, 309 Pilmun-daero, Dong-gu, Gwangju 61452, Korea

³

Department of Biotechnology, Saveetha School of Engineering, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai 600073, India

⁴

College of Pharmacy, Chosun University, 309 Pilmun-daero, Dong-gu, Gwangju 61452, Korea

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

These authors contributed equally to this paper.

Vaccines 2021, 9(5), 441; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9050441

Submission received: 31 March 2021 / Revised: 21 April 2021 / Accepted: 27 April 2021 / Published: 1 May 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cancer Immunotherapy: Advances and Future Prospects)

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Abstract

Cancer stem cells (CSCs), which have the capacity to self-renew and differentiate into various types of cells, are notorious for their roles in tumor initiation, metastasis, and therapy resistance. Thus, underlying mechanisms for their survival provide key insights into developing effective therapeutic strategies. A more recent focus has been on exosomes that play a role in transmitting information between CSCs and non-CSCs, resulting in activating CSCs for cancer progression and modulating their surrounding microenvironment. The field of CSC-derived exosomes (CSCEXs) for different types of cancer is still under exploration. A deeper understanding and further investigation into CSCEXs’ roles in tumorigenicity and the identification of novel exosomal components are necessary for engineering exosomes for the treatment of cancer. Here, we review the features of CSCEXs, including surface markers, cargo, and biological or physiological functions. Further, reports on the immunomodulatory effects of CSCEXs are summarized, and exosome engineering for CSC-targeting is also discussed.

Keywords: exosome; cancer stem cell; cancer stem cell-derived exosome; immunotherapy; exosome engineering

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MDPI and ACS Style

Lee, N.-K.; Kothandan, V.K.; Kothandan, S.; Byun, Y.; Hwang, S.-R. Exosomes and Cancer Stem Cells in Cancer Immunity: Current Reports and Future Directions. Vaccines 2021, 9, 441. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9050441

AMA Style

Lee N-K, Kothandan VK, Kothandan S, Byun Y, Hwang S-R. Exosomes and Cancer Stem Cells in Cancer Immunity: Current Reports and Future Directions. Vaccines. 2021; 9(5):441. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9050441

Chicago/Turabian Style

Lee, Na-Kyeong, Vinoth Kumar Kothandan, Sangeetha Kothandan, Youngro Byun, and Seung-Rim Hwang. 2021. "Exosomes and Cancer Stem Cells in Cancer Immunity: Current Reports and Future Directions" Vaccines 9, no. 5: 441. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9050441

APA Style

Lee, N.-K., Kothandan, V. K., Kothandan, S., Byun, Y., & Hwang, S.-R. (2021). Exosomes and Cancer Stem Cells in Cancer Immunity: Current Reports and Future Directions. Vaccines, 9(5), 441. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9050441

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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Exosomes and Cancer Stem Cells in Cancer Immunity: Current Reports and Future Directions

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