Emerging Areas in Bioengineering

Chapter 36Bioengineered Cell-Derived Vesicles as Drug Delivery Carriers

Vipul Gujrati and Sangyong Jon

36.1 Introduction

Following a quarter century of rapid advances, the field of nanotechnology has witnessed rapid growth in the area of nanocarrier-based medicines for treating cancers [1–3]. We foresee cancer research developing into a rational science, reflecting the development of nanomedicines based on an understanding of the complexities of the disease as revealed in laboratory and clinical studies. Although synthetic drug carriers are being proactively studied, attention has been drawn toward natural nanocarriers developed from a variety of cells, including prokaryotes and higher eukaryotes [1–8].

This review focuses on recent progress ...