Extracellular vesicles for breast cancer diagnosis and therapy

Abstract

Breast cancer is still suffering from its poor diagnosis and the lack of effective treatment. Despite of recent development of some novel chemicals, which are found to have inspiring therapeutic effects in vitro, their outcomes in clinic trails are disappointing, mainly due to the lack of suitable therapeutic vehicles. Thanks to their ability to encapsulate bio-molecules, extracellular vesicles (EVs), including exosomes, microvesicles, and apoptotic bodies, hold great promise in becoming a suitable candidate in the breast cancer diagnosis and therapy. Currently, EVs are increasingly evaluated as potential indicators in the diagnosis of breast cancer since they are actively involved in different stages of breast cancer development, including promoting cancer occurrence and metastasis, establishing tumor ecology, and promoting tumor growth. Moreover, they are also considered as promising new platforms in breast cancer therapy. Here, we discuss the potential therapeutic applications of EVs, including EVs as biomarkers for diagnosis and therapeutic drug delivery to tumor sites. The promising data and technologies indicate the potential applicability of EVs in clinical management of patients with breast cancer.