Potential of tumor tissue-derived exosomes as promising bionanocarriers for targeted anticancer therapy

Tumor tissue-derived exosomes (tdEXOs) have emerged as promising nanocarriers for personalized cancer therapy, offering native membrane compositions that reflect the tumor microenvironment. In this study, tdEXOs were isolated directly from patient-derived ovarian tumor tissues and loaded with doxorubicin (DOX) using an ammonium sulfate gradient method. The resulting DOX-tdEXOs exhibited high encapsulation efficiency, preserved vesicular morphology, and stable physicochemical properties. Compared to free DOX, DOX-tdEXOs demonstrated enhanced cellular uptake and cytotoxicity in SKOV-3 ovarian cancer cells. The tdEXOs also showed selective uptake by homologous cancer cells, suggesting a homotypic targeting mechanism mediated by membrane protein preservation. In vivo biodistribution imaging further revealed preferential accumulation of tdEXOs in tumor tissues following systemic administration. These results support the feasibility of tdEXOs as autologous, origin-specific delivery vehicles and underscore their potential to improve therapeutic efficacy while minimizing off-target effects.