journal article·2026-07Open access

Scalable Engineering of Bio‐Manufactured Extracellular Vesicles for Selective Delivery in Ovarian Cancer Patient‐Derived Models

Nihar Godbole, Andrew Lai, Alexander Quinn, Marianne Gillard, Dominic Guanzon, Katherin Scholz‐Romero, Alexis Salas‐Burgos, Bastián Lillo Dapremont, Rohan Lourie, Naven Chetty, Richard Lobb, Kate Beecher, Amy E. McCart Reed, Kaltin Ferguson, Biao Sun, Yaowu He, John D. Hooper, Carlos Salomon

Advanced Science· Volume 13· Issue 40

Abstract

ABSTRACT Ovarian cancer remains challenging to treat because of late diagnosis, heterogeneity, and poor response to existing therapies. Here, we present a streamlined and scalable extracellular vesicle (EV) engineering approach that enables efficient cargo packaging and enhances targeted cargo delivery to ovarian tumors in vivo. Systematic comparison of vesicle‐anchoring domains identifies an optimized scaffold for loading bioluminescent cargo into EVs. We characterized EV production from five cell lines commonly used for biopharmaceutical manufacturing and selected and stably engineered ExpiCHO cells as a robust, large‐scale source of engineered EVs (eEVs). To achieve molecular targeting, the transmembrane scaffold Δ688 PTGFRN is modified to display tissue‐targeting ligand Ephrin‐B2 (EB2) on the EV surface, exploiting its high‐affinity interaction with the Eph receptor B4 (EphB4), which is overexpressed in advanced ovarian carcinoma. Following systemic administration, these eEVs carrying bioluminescent cargo preferentially accumulate in EphB4‐positive cells in vivo and permit non‐invasive, spatiotemporal tracking via cargo‐mediated bioluminescence resonance energy transfer. In patient‐derived xenograft models with differential EphB4 expression, Ephrin‐B2–displaying eEVs show selective localization to EphB4‐positive tumors and report intratumoral cargo distribution. This work establishes a translational strategy for large‐scale eEV production, advancing EV‐based delivery platforms for precision targeting of EphB4‐expressing ovarian cancer.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Extracellular vesicles in disease · Nanoplatforms for cancer theranostics · Axon Guidance and Neuronal Signaling

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Translational Extracellular Vesicles in Obstetrics and Gynae‐Oncology Group Frazer Institute Faculty of Health Medicine and Behavioural Sciences Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital The University of Queensland Herston Queensland Australia

UQ Centre for Extracellular vesicle Nanomedicine Faculty of Health Medicine and Behavioural Sciences The University of Queensland Herston Queensland Australia

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Agriculture & Food Saint Lucia Queensland Australia

Frazer Institute Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences The University of Queensland Herston Queensland Australia

Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) The University of Queensland Brisbane Queensland 4072 Australia

Oncology Progression Laboratory Pharmacology Department Biological Science Faculty Concepcion University Concepción Chile

Centro Territorial de Investigación Oncológica Integrativa (CTIOi) Santiago Chile

Mater Health Services South Brisbane Queensland Australia

Mater Research Institute Translational Research Institute University of Queensland Woolloongabba Queensland Australia

Funding

Medical Research Future Fund · National Health and Medical Research Council · Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation

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