Biomimetic Nanovesicles as a Dual Gene Delivery System for the Synergistic Gene Therapy of Alzheimer’s DiseaseThe association between dysfunctional microglia and amyloid-β (Aβ) is a fundamental pathological event and increases the speed of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Additionally, the pathogenesis of AD is intricate and a single drug may not be enough to achieve a satisfactory therapeutic outcome. Herein, we reported a facile and effective gene therapy strategy for the modulation of microglia function and intervention of Aβ anabolism by ROS-responsive biomimetic exosome-liposome hybrid nanovesicles (designated as TSEL). The biomimetic nanovesicles codelivery β-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme-1 (BACE1) siRNA (siBACE1) and TREM2 plasmid (pTREM2) gene drug efficiently penetrate the blood-brain barrier and enhance the drug accumulation at AD lesions with the help of exosomes homing ability and angiopep-2 peptides. Specifically, an upregulation of TREM2 expression can reprogram microglia from a pro-inflammatory M1 phenotype to an anti-inflammatory M2 phenotype while also restoring its capacity to phagocytose Aβ and its nerve repair function. In addition, siRNA reduces the production of Aβ plaques at the source by knocking out the BACE1 gene, which is expected to further enhance the therapeutic effect of AD. The in vivo study suggests that TSEL through the synergistic effect of two gene drugs can ameliorate APP/PS1 mice cognitive impairment by regulating the activated microglial phenotype, reducing the accumulation of Aβ, and preventing the retriggering of neuroinflammation. This strategy employs biomimetic nanovesicles for the delivery of dual nucleic acids, achieving synergistic gene therapy for AD, thus offering more options for the treatment of AD.
Glioblastoma cell-derived exosomes functionalized with peptides as efficient nanocarriers for synergistic chemotherapy of glioblastoma with improved biosafetyYing Zhou, Long Wang, Lufei Chen et al.|Nano Research|2023 Glioblastoma (GBM) has been regarded as one of the most deadly and challenging cancers to treat with extremely poor prognosis. The limited efficacy of current chemotherapies might be attributed to the presence of glioma stem cells (GSCs) as well as the difficulties in passing through the blood–brain barrier (BBB) and targeting tumor cells. Tumor-derived exosomes are emerging as novel and promising drug delivery systems. However, great concerns regarding the biosafety and BBB penetrability remain to be addressed. Herein, we have developed a simple and feasible strategy to engineer GBM cell-derived exosomes with improved biosafety termed “Exo@TDPs” to deliver the cargos of chemotherapeutic agents temozolomide (TMZ) and doxorubicin (DOX) into GBM tissues. Exo@TDPs decorated with angiopep-2 (Ang-2) and CD133-targeted peptides improve the capacity to penetrate the BBB and target tumor cells. Both in vitro and in vivo studies demonstrate that Exo@TDPs can cross the BBB, target GBM cells, penetrate into deep tumor parenchyma, and release the therapeutic cargos effectively. Synergistic delivery of TMZ and DOX by Exo@TDPs exerts therapeutic effects to suppress the tumor growth and prolong the survival time of orthotopic syngeneic mouse GBM models. These findings suggest that our developed Exo@TDPs loaded with chemotherapeutic drugs may bring new possibilities for the application of tumor cell-derived exosomes for brain tumor treatment.