Exosomal cannabidiol: A promising candidate for targeted oral delivery against breast cancer - PubMed
7 hours ago
- #Cannabidiol
- #Exosomes
- #Breast Cancer
- Breast cancer (BCa) is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women, with triple-negative BCa (TNBC) being highly metastatic and difficult to treat.
- Cannabidiol (CBD) has shown anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties in BCa, but its poor oral bioavailability is a challenge.
- Exosomes (Exo) were used as a drug delivery system for CBD, including non-functionalized exosomes and folic acid-functionalized exosomes (FA-Exo), achieving a 20% CBD drug load.
- FA-ExoCBD averaged 136 ± 2.9 nm in size and demonstrated time-dependent CBD release under simulated gastric and intestinal conditions.
- TNBC cell lines were more sensitive to CBD than estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) cell lines, including taxol-resistant variants.
- Oral FA-ExoCBD showed enhanced tumor targeting, retention, and inhibition of tumor growth in mice compared to ExoCBD or free CBD.
- RNA-Seq analysis revealed that FA-ExoCBD modulated over 1000 genes, downregulating metastasis-associated genes and upregulating tumor suppressors.
- FA-ExoCBD improves CBD's therapeutic profile by enhancing efficacy, tumor selectivity, bioavailability, and anticancer efficacy.