TY - JOUR
T1 - Clinically Expired Platelet Concentrates as a Source of Extracellular Vesicles for Targeted Anti-Cancer Drug Delivery
AU - Meliciano, Ana
AU - Salvador, Daniela
AU - Mendonça, Pedro
AU - Louro, Ana Filipa
AU - Serra, Margarida
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia funded projects PEFPlateletValue (PTDC/BTM-ORG/32187/2017) and EXCELERATE (2022.10467.PTDC), iNOVA4Health-(UIDB/04462/2020 and UIDP/04462/2020), a program financially supported by FCT/Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior, through national funds. The Associate Laboratory LS4FUTURE (LA/P/0087/2020) is also acknowledge.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.
PY - 2023/3
Y1 - 2023/3
N2 - The short shelf life of platelet concentrates (PC) of up to 5–7 days leads to higher wastage due to expiry. To address this massive financial burden on the healthcare system, alternative applications for expired PC have emerged in recent years. Engineered nanocarriers functionalized with platelet membranes have shown excellent targeting abilities for tumor cells owing to their platelet membrane proteins. Nevertheless, synthetic drug delivery strategies have significant drawbacks that platelet-derived extracellular vesicles (pEV) can overcome. We investigated, for the first time, the use of pEV as a carrier of the anti-breast cancer drug paclitaxel, considering it as an appealing alternative to improve the therapeutic potential of expired PC. The pEV released during PC storage showed a typical EV size distribution profile (100–300 nm) with a cup-shaped morphology. Paclitaxel-loaded pEV showed significant anti-cancer effects in vitro, as demonstrated by their anti-migratory (>30%), anti-angiogenic (>30%), and anti-invasive (>70%) properties in distinct cells found in the breast tumor microenvironment. We provide evidence for a novel application for expired PC by suggesting that the field of tumor treatment research may be broadened by the use of natural carriers.
AB - The short shelf life of platelet concentrates (PC) of up to 5–7 days leads to higher wastage due to expiry. To address this massive financial burden on the healthcare system, alternative applications for expired PC have emerged in recent years. Engineered nanocarriers functionalized with platelet membranes have shown excellent targeting abilities for tumor cells owing to their platelet membrane proteins. Nevertheless, synthetic drug delivery strategies have significant drawbacks that platelet-derived extracellular vesicles (pEV) can overcome. We investigated, for the first time, the use of pEV as a carrier of the anti-breast cancer drug paclitaxel, considering it as an appealing alternative to improve the therapeutic potential of expired PC. The pEV released during PC storage showed a typical EV size distribution profile (100–300 nm) with a cup-shaped morphology. Paclitaxel-loaded pEV showed significant anti-cancer effects in vitro, as demonstrated by their anti-migratory (>30%), anti-angiogenic (>30%), and anti-invasive (>70%) properties in distinct cells found in the breast tumor microenvironment. We provide evidence for a novel application for expired PC by suggesting that the field of tumor treatment research may be broadened by the use of natural carriers.
KW - anti-angiogenic potential
KW - drug delivery system
KW - expired platelet concentrates
KW - human breast cancer cell line
KW - paclitaxel
KW - platelet-derived extracellular vesicles
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85151727466&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/pharmaceutics15030953
DO - 10.3390/pharmaceutics15030953
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85151727466
SN - 1999-4923
VL - 15
JO - Pharmaceutics
JF - Pharmaceutics
IS - 3
M1 - 953
ER -
