This technology features a pharmaceutical composition for cancer prevention and treatment, as well as a health functional food composition for cancer prevention and improvement, using extracellular vesicles—specifically nanovesicles with an average diameter of 70–200 nm—derived from perilla leaves as the active ingredient. These nanovesicles selectively inhibit the proliferation of breast and cervical cancer cells without showing toxicity to normal cells.
Conventional chemotherapy agents work by blocking DNA replication or cell division, which damages normal cells and causes side effects such as nausea, hair loss, and skin inflammation. While attempts have been made to reduce these issues by delivering drugs via synthetic nanovesicles or animal-derived exosomes, they face significant challenges regarding safety and mass production costs. Furthermore, obtaining plant nanovesicles through ultracentrifugation often results in low yields and impurities, making it difficult to ensure the desired activity and in vivo safety.
This technology increases purity by ultrafiltering perilla leaf juice and then isolating only the nanovesicles using size-exclusion chromatography. The purified vesicles inhibit the proliferation of MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 breast cancer cells, as well as HeLa cervical cancer cells. Being plant-derived, they offer high biocompatibility, stability in bodily fluids, and cell permeability. They can be formulated into granules, tablets, capsules, syrups, injections, or even jelly and bar-type foods. Applicable to the development of adjuvant therapies for women's cancers, health supplements for use during chemotherapy, and plant exosome-based drug delivery systems, this technology enables cost-effective mass production from common perilla leaves while targeting specific cancer cells without damaging healthy ones.
WO2022-234922A1
