miRNA-loaded exosome-like microparticles as targeted cancer therapy.

e14069Background: Current cancer therapies are partially effective in tumor eradication, due to intrinsic drug resistance as well as failure of therapeutic agents reaching the tumor site. Exosome-like microparticles (MPs) may provide a more efficient way to deliver therapeutics to tumours in a targeted fashion. We have developed improved exosome-like MPs, representing vesicles with relatively uniform size (0.1-1.0 μm), that can be loaded with miRNAs as well as retain their original mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) chemokine profile, allowing them to home into areas of high chemokine expression such as cancer and inflammation. Methods: Exosome-like MPs were released from MSCs of the Wharton's jelly upon cellular stress. Utilizing a state-of-the-art in vitro pharmacokinetics program, with innovative imaging techniques such as in vivoflow cytometry and whole body fluorescence reflectance imaging, we investigated the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic behavior of fluorescently labelled MPs (MP/DiD) containing key...