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Review
. 2023 Jan 18:13:1089410.
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.1089410. eCollection 2022.

Exosomes: A potential tool for immunotherapy of ovarian cancer

Xiangjin Gong  1 , Hao Chi  2 , Dorothee Franziska Strohmer  3 , Alexander Tobias Teichmann  4 , Zhijia Xia  3 , Qin Wang  4
Affiliations
Review

Exosomes: A potential tool for immunotherapy of ovarian cancer

Xiangjin Gong et al. Front Immunol. .

Abstract

Ovarian cancer is a malignant tumor of the female reproductive system, with a very poor prognosis and high mortality rates. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are the most common treatments for ovarian cancer, with unsatisfactory results. Exosomes are a subpopulation of extracellular vesicles, which have a diameter of approximately 30-100 nm and are secreted by many different types of cells in various body fluids. Exosomes are highly stable and are effective carriers of immunotherapeutic drugs. Recent studies have shown that exosomes are involved in various cellular responses in the tumor microenvironment, influencing the development and therapeutic efficacy of ovarian cancer, and exhibiting dual roles in inhibiting and promoting tumor development. Exosomes also contain a variety of genes related to ovarian cancer immunotherapy that could be potential biomarkers for ovarian cancer diagnosis and prognosis. Undoubtedly, exosomes have great therapeutic potential in the field of ovarian cancer immunotherapy. However, translation of this idea to the clinic has not occurred. Therefore, it is important to understand how exosomes could be used in ovarian cancer immunotherapy to regulate tumor progression. In this review, we summarize the biomarkers of exosomes in different body fluids related to immunotherapy in ovarian cancer and the potential mechanisms by which exosomes influence immunotherapeutic response. We also discuss the prospects for clinical application of exosome-based immunotherapy in ovarian cancer.

Keywords: biomarker; exosome; immunotherapy; ovarian cancer; tumor microenvironment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Interactions between exosomes, cancer cells, and immune cells in the tumor microenvironment.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Exosomes in different body fluids. Exosomes are widely found in a variety of body fluids, including (A) ascites, (B) serum, (C) blood, (D) urine, and (E) in other fluids have the potential to be immune markers due to their particularity.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Bidirectional effects of exosomes from different sources in the tumor microenvironment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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