Conclusion
The results suggest that our approach provides effective loading of Tq into exosomes which offer a valuable and safe platform for drug delivery to cancer cells thus having a great potential for clinical studies.
Methods
Exosomes secreted from AdMSCs were isolated via ultracentrifugation and characterized by electron microscopy and western blotting. Then, through a novel encapsulation approach, Tq was loaded into exosomes by the combination of three methods including incubation, freeze-thawing, and surfactant treatment. Then, the encapsulation efficiency, in vitro cellular uptake, and cytotoxicity of Tq incorporated exosomes (Tq@EXOs) in MCF7 and L929 cells were estimated.
Results
Tq loading into exosomes through our novel method caused a significant improvement in encapsulation efficiency of about 60%. The fluorescent microscopy and flow cytometry outcomes indicated the efficient uptake of Tq@EXOs-FITC by cells throughout 4 hr. Furthermore, MTT results displayed the ability of Tq@EXOs in effectively decreasing the cell viability of MCF7 without causing any obvious cytotoxicity on L929 as normal cells.