Published online Jun 20, 2023. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v13.i3.46
Peer-review started: March 22, 2023
First decision: April 17, 2023
Revised: May 2, 2023
Accepted: May 31, 2023
Article in press: May 31, 2023
Published online: June 20, 2023
Processing time: 89 Days and 19.3 Hours
Despite the development of newer oncological treatment, the survival of patients with pancreatic cancer (PC) remains poor. Recent studies have identified exosomes as essential mediators of intercellular communications and play a vital role in tumor initiation, metastasis and chemoresistance. Thus, the utility of liquid biopsies using exosomes in PC management can be used for early detection, diagnosis, monitoring as well as drug delivery vehicles for cancer therapy. This review summarizes the function, and clinical applications of exosomes in cancers as minimally invasive liquid biomarker in diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic roles.
Core Tip: The determination and identification of biomarkers using liquid biopsy can enable the early detection, monitoring, therapeutic interventions, risk of relapse, therapeutic targets and identification of resistance mechanisms in pancreatic cancer (PC). There has been a recent interest in use of exosomes as biomarker in PC management. Exosomes loaded with multiple diagnostic molecules can be isolated from different body fluids and can be used for making the exosome markers-based liquid biopsy more attractive for initial tumor detection, monitoring, and prognostic assessment of PC.