Exosomes serve as nanoparticles to suppress tumor growth and angiogenesis in gastric cancer by delivering hepatocyte growth factor siRNA

Exosomes derived from cells have been found to mediate signal transduction between cells and to act as efficient carriers to deliver drugs and small RNA. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is known to promote the growth of both cancer cells and vascular cells, and the HGF‐cMET pathway is a potential clinical target. Here, we characterized the inhibitory effect of HGF siRNA on tumor growth and angiogenesis in gastric cancer. In addition, we showed that HGF siRNA packed in exosomes can be transported into cancer cells, where it dramatically downregulates HGF expression. A cell co‐culture model was used to show that exosomes loaded with HGF siRNA suppress proliferation and migration of both cancer cells and vascular cells. Moreover, exosomes were able to transfer HGF siRNA in vivo, decreasing the growth rates of tumors and blood vessels. The results of our study demonstrate that exosomes have potential for use in targeted cancer therapy by delivering siRNA.

HGF siRNA packed in exosomes can be transported into cancer cells, and down‐regulates HGF expression, and suppress proliferation and migration of both cancer cells and vascular cells.

Source: Cancer Science - February 11, 2018 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Haiyang Zhang, Yi Wang, Ming Bai, Junyi Wang, Kegan Zhu, Rui Liu, Shaohua Ge, JiaLu Li, Tao Ning, Ting Deng, Qian Fan, Hongli Li, Wu Sun, Guoguang Ying, Yi Ba Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research