Cell Guidance Systems Blog

In drug development, the term Trojan horse encompasses a variety of strategies to deliver drugs in a concealed, safe and efficient way to the target. The main objectives of this strategy are firstly to overcome barriers, such as the blood brain-barrier or simply the cell membrane, which shield the target (Troy) from a drug (the Greeks), secondly, to specifically attack the disease rather than the whole body and thirdly, to achieve a slow drug release over time with no sudden concentration peaks. This approach does not only sound awesome on a metaphoric level, but also makes use of some nifty biological tricks.

Exosomes are cell-secreted vesicles with a diameter between 30-150nm which contain producer cell-derived protein, lipid and nucleic acid cargoes. Exosomes complex structure, coated with various membrane-bound proteins, can permeate target cells, enabling direct cell-to-cell communication between neighbouring and distant cells. Now researchers are looking at the possibility of using exosomes derived from plants for therapeutic applications

Cell Guidance Systems Ltd, a specialist in exosome research reagents and services, today announced the launch of a new product for the purification of exosomes from blood and other samples. The Exo-spin™ 96 exosome purification kit allows researchers to purify exosome samples in the standard 96 well plate format.

The characterisation of exosomes via multiple, complimentary techniques is necessary as a basic step to understand the sample before any further analysis. Here we discuss how products and services from Cell Guidance Systems can help with this important task.

Exosomes play an important role in both local and systemic cellular communication, carrying most types of biomolecules (including DNAs, RNAs, proteins and lipids) between cells and tissues. The properties of exosomes may allow us to utilize them for therapeutic and clinical purposes. Cancer management is an attractive target.

A recent study published by collaborators working in Chile is the first to describe some remarkable anti-bacterial properties of exosome-like vesicles (ELVs) isolated from honeybee products including honey, royal jelly and pollen

Growth factors (GFs), which include cytokines, are rather unstable proteins with half-lives sometimes as short as a few minutes. This instability is an important part of their function. Imagine GFs that persisted for months in-vivo: they would be widely diffused and their ability to define tissues would be lost.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are microscopic hollow lipid spheres which shuttle cargo, including proteins and nucleic acids, between cells. The biological importance of EVs in normal tissue homeostasis and also disease is well established. Consequently, their clinical potential as therapeutics and diagnostics is the focus of much attention.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), and exosomes in particular, are transitioning from academic research to biotech development and onwards towards the clinic. Close to 50 EV companies have already emerged, particularly since 2017, with growing support from investors. These companies are focusing on both therapeutic and diagnostic applications. The emerging exosome biotech companies have a surprisingly diverse set of strategies which are shaping the medical and commercial future of the nascent exosome field.

Early diagnosis is crucial to surviving cancer. A very large collaborative study involving over 50 labs, lead by researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology, published in the latest issue of Cell, has identified 13 novel markers of cancer in small samples of patient’s blood.