Figure 2.

Tumor-derived exosome modulations aiming for increased efficacy of future TEX-based vaccines. (a). Autologous TEXs can be collected from the patients’ peripheral blood. They can be modified by transfection with immune response promoting agents to strengthen the efficacy as vaccine, which treatment may be combined with additional therapeutic agents, either loaded into TEX or independently applied. (b) TEXs can be directly or indirectly modified through overexpression of some tumor antigens, miRNAs, immunostimulatory molecules and cytokines that increase their immunogenic potential. Native or modified TEXs can be used for DC pulsing, the transfer of which provoking a strong immune response, at present, considered as the most effective cancer vaccines. The efficacy of DC-TEX can be supported by cytotoxic drugs, preferentially hampering immunosuppressive cells and agents.