Table 1.

Comparison of drug delivery effectiveness between the free and the exosome-encapsulated drug.

Drug	Chemical Structure	Free	Exosome Encapsulated	Reference
5-FC		Non-active	Tumor growth suppression of C6 GBM cells	[199]
TMZ		Non-active	Inhibition of the TMZ-resistant GBM growth in cell lines	[209,235]
Atorvastatin		Reduced tumor-targeting efficiency	Tumor growth inhibition with reduced cell propagation, migration and VEGF secretion	[211,212]
BQR		Limited BBB penetration	Improved ferroptosis, BBB penetration and tumor-targeting ability	[213]
DOX		Limited BBB penetration	High apoptotic effect and tumor growth suppression	[216,231,239,247,250,253]
PTX		Limited BBB penetration	High cytotoxicity and improvement of therapeutic effects through optimized targeting	[219,244]
Cur		Limited BBB penetration and tumor-targeting ability as well as poor stability in liquid environment	Increased imaging and therapeutic effects with reduced side effects and augmented survival in mice models	[232,254]
ICG		Limited BBB penetration, tumor-targeting ability and poor stability in aqueous solution	Relief of the intracellular hypoxia microenvironment, BBB penetration, tumor accumulation and potent anticancer effect	[233,240]
Panobinostat		Limited BBB penetration and poor water solubility	Inhibition of DIPG cell proliferation	[236]
HCQ		Limited BBB penetration and non-selective distribution of the drug in vivo	Strong antitumor activity	[217]
TMZ & DHT		Non-active/TMZ-resistance inversion and apoptosis induction	Good antitumor efficacy and targeting of the tumor site of TMZ-resistant cells and mice models	[241]
Selumetinib		Limited BBB penetration	Strong antitumor effect with zero toxicity in vivo	[243]
VB		Strong anticancer effect in vitro and in vivo	Not studied	[245]
DOX & PTX		Limited BBB penetration	Autologous exosomes represent the most potent weapon for glioma drug targeting with increased cytotoxicity and BBB penetration	[246,255]
TanIIA and GL		Poor solubility in water and quick metabolism/Self-assembly with fat-soluble ingredients for nanomicelle formation	Great BBB penetration, apoptosis inducement and when co-administered with TMZ an enhanced synergistic effect as well as an inhibition of postoperative recurrence was observed	[251]
Metformin		Limited BBB penetration, poor stability an inefficient cell uptake	Increased cell uptake, suppression of tumor growth and significant extension of mice survival time	[252]