{"entity":{"id":"exosome-therapeutics","kind":"technology","name":"Engineered exosomes as drug carriers","aka":[],"tldr":"Loading the tiny vesicles cells naturally use to talk to each other with a cancer drug, so the body treats the carrier as its own.","summary":"Exosomes are natural lipid vesicles that cross biological barriers and are poorly cleared by the immune system. The best-known oncology example is iExosomes, mesenchymal-cell exosomes loaded with siRNA against KRAS G12D, in a phase 1 in pancreatic cancer at MD Anderson (NCT03608631). Manufacturing consistency, loading efficiency and potency per particle are the barriers; no exosome therapeutic has been approved.","status":"phase-1","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"iExosomes phase 1 (NCT03608631)","url":"https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03608631"}],"tags":["frontier","promising"],"related":[],"cancers":["pancreatic"],"sections":["drug-discovery","targeted-therapy"],"technologies":["antisense-sirna","in-vivo-car-t","neoantigen-mrna-vaccine"],"targets":["kras"],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":["md-anderson"],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"principle":"Donor cells are engineered or exosomes are loaded ex vivo with siRNA, protein or small molecules; surface proteins such as CD47 reduce clearance and can be modified for targeting.","strengths":["Low immunogenicity and long circulation","Crosses barriers that liposomes struggle with","Can carry nucleic acids that need protection"],"limitations":["Manufacturing scale and batch consistency","Low and variable drug loading","Biodistribution still favours liver and spleen"]},"route":"/technologies/exosome-therapeutics/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"pancreatic","kind":"cancer","name":"Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","route":"/cancers/pancreatic/"}],"section":[{"id":"drug-discovery","kind":"section","name":"Drug Discovery Platforms","route":"/fronts/drug-discovery/"},{"id":"targeted-therapy","kind":"section","name":"Targeted Therapy","route":"/fronts/targeted-therapy/"}],"technology":[{"id":"rejuv-frontier-exosome-injections","kind":"technology","name":"Exosome injections","route":"/technologies/rejuv-frontier-exosome-injections/"},{"id":"in-vivo-car-t","kind":"technology","name":"In vivo CAR-T","route":"/technologies/in-vivo-car-t/"},{"id":"antisense-sirna","kind":"technology","name":"Oligonucleotide therapeutics","route":"/technologies/antisense-sirna/"},{"id":"neoantigen-mrna-vaccine","kind":"technology","name":"Personalised neoantigen (mRNA) vaccines","route":"/technologies/neoantigen-mrna-vaccine/"}],"target":[{"id":"kras","kind":"target","name":"KRAS","route":"/targets/kras/"}],"institution":[{"id":"md-anderson","kind":"institution","name":"MD Anderson Cancer Center","route":"/institutions/md-anderson/"}],"roadmap":[{"id":"frontier-2035","kind":"roadmap","name":"Radical oncology: what could change the war by 2035","route":"/roadmaps/frontier-2035/"}],"pathway":[{"id":"pre-metastatic-niche","kind":"pathway","name":"The pre-metastatic niche","route":"/pathways/pre-metastatic-niche/"}]}}