Biocompatible exosomes nanodrug cargo for cancer cell bioimaging and drug delivery

Therapy against cancer still stays a daunting issue for human health, regardless of remarkable innovation in a wide range of pathology. In situ biosynthesized nanoclusters bestow a novel remedy for carcinogenic cell imaging. Exosomes have got special attention as an efficient tool for the diagnosis of various diseases, including cancers. All types of cells (healthy or diseased) generate exosomes, making them significantly unique for relevant disease diagnosis and treatment. In this contribution, we exploit the possibility to utilize the exosomes to facilitate chemotherapeutics, viz the combination of doxorubicin (Dox) and biosynthesized silver nanoclusters in cancer cells. Our study showed a new facile way for bioimaging of cancer cells using biosynthesized silver-DNA nanoclusters, and thus further targeting cancer cells using the relevant cancer exosomes as drug delivery cargo. After isolating exosomes from neoplastic cells, i.e., HeLa, loaded with the drug, and treating other neoplastic cells with cargo loaded isolated exosomes, we found that cargo loaded isolated exosomes can readily enter in the targeted cancer cells and efficiently kill these neoplastic cells. This raises the possibility to act as a novel facile modality for target cancer theranostics with highly efficiency and biocompability.