The Booming Market for Exosomes in 2021

Exosome-related technologies have been developing rapidly over the past few years and substantial growth is expected for the market as they get integrated into the fields of liquid biopsy, precision medicine and regenerative medicine. In particular, cancer derived exosomes influence the invasive potential of cells by regulating angiogenesis, metastasis, and immunity, making them an extremely useful source of biomarkers for use in cancer detection, diagnosis, and therapeutic selection.

Exosomes are extracellular vesicles (EVs) of endosomal origin that range in size between 30 and 100 nanometers. Exosomes are secreted by a wide range of cells, since virtually all living cells utilize exosome-mediated communication. Exosomes carry cell-specific cargos of proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids that are selectively taken up by recipient cells.

Exosomes as Cell-Free Therapeutics, Engineered Drug Carriers, and Biomarkers

The cargo contained within exosomes can offer prognostic information for range of diseases—including cardiovascular, renal, neurodegenerative, and metabolic diseases—as well as cancer.  Researchers investigating exosome biomarkers have discovered, identified, and reported the presence of hundreds of biomolecules within the lumen of exosomes.

This discovery has compelled a rapid rise in exosome-related cancer biomarker research, including the use of exosomes for the detection, monitoring, and treatment of a diverse range of oncologic conditions.

Importantly, exosomes are present within a diverse range of biofluids, including serum, plasma, urine, seminal fluid, CSF, saliva, tears and breast milk. For this reason, exosome-based diagnostics are minimally invasive, offering ease of use and speed of detection. Exosomes can also act as prognostic indicators and predictors of a patient’s response to a specific course of treatment.

Exosomes are also being explored for their use as cell-free therapeutics. For example, if a patient has a disease caused by a missing or defective protein or microRNA, the patient’s exosomes can be isolated, modified with the appropriate siRNA or protein and then injected back into the patient for treatment.  There are also many approaches being researched for creating drug-loaded exosomes. Furthermore, exosomes can often exert powerful effects. For example, mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) derived exosomes have the capacity to suppress inflammation, prevent scar tissue formation, and mediate a healthy immune response.

Exosome Market Trends

For these reasons, exosomes have gone from being overlooked to rapidly gaining momentum as a novel strategy for accessing the therapeutic effects of cells without the risks and difficulties of administering cells to patients. Although exosomes were discovered more than 30 years ago, it was not until recently that the scientific community began to give credit to exosomes for a range of promising traits. Fifteen years ago in 2006, there  were only 76 articles published about exosomes on PubMed.gov.  Today, there an astounding 17,850 articles published about exosomes on PubMed.gov, of which the vast majority were released in the past five years.

When exosome publications are analyzed, U.S. authors have published approximately 40% of the articles and China comes in second place. When the term “exosome” is searched in the scientific literature, Dr. Susanne Gabrielsson from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden is the leading author.

When the term “extracellular vesicles” is searched, Unicyte AG, a regenerative medicine unit of Fresenius Medical Care, takes the lead. Headquartered in Switzerland, the company has published more than 100 papers on exosomes and extracellular vesicles in combination with Professor Giovanni Camussi.