Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications of Exosome Nanovesicles in Lung Cancer: State-of-The-Art

Lung cancer is a malignant disease with high morbidity, mortality, and poor prognosis since conventional therapeutic approaches are not sufficient. Recently, with the discovery of exosomes, researchers have implemented new approaches in the diagnosis and treatment of various malignancies such as lung cancer. Investigation of lung cancer cell-derived exosomes and analysis of their profile by advanced techniques will assist researchers to take advantage of the specific properties of these multivesicular bodies. Also, scientists have presented various encouraging methods in the treatment of lung cancer with loading drugs, proteins, microRNAs, and siRNAs inside specific antigen-targeted exosomes. This review discusses the role of exosomes as novel prognostic biomarkers (containing lipids, surface and internal proteins, miRNAs, and lncRNAs) and therapeutic agents (e.g. vaccine and targeted drug delivery systems) in lung cancer.