Technical challenges of working with extracellular vesicles

Marcel I. Ramirez, Maria G. Amorim, Catarina Gadelha, Ivana Milic, Joshua A. Welsh, Vanessa M. Freitas, Muhammad Nawaz, Naveed Akbar, Yvonne Couch, Laura Makin, Fiona Cooke, Andre L. Vettore, Patricia X. Batista, Roberta Freezor, Julia A. Pezuk, Lívia Rosa-Fernandes, Ana Claudia O. Carreira, Andrew Devitt, Laura Jacobs, Israel T. SilvaGillian Coakley, Diana N. Nunes, Dave Carter, Giuseppe Palmisano, Emmanuel Dias-Neto

Research output: Contribution to journalReview ArticleResearchpeer-review

411 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) are gaining interest as central players in liquid biopsies, with potential applications in diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic guidance in most pathological conditions. These nanosized particles transmit signals determined by their protein, lipid, nucleic acid and sugar content, and the unique molecular pattern of EVs dictates the type of signal to be transmitted to recipient cells. However, their small sizes and the limited quantities that can usually be obtained from patient-derived samples pose a number of challenges to their isolation, study and characterization. These challenges and some possible options to overcome them are discussed in this review.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)881-906
Number of pages26
JournalNanoscale
Volume10
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 Jan 2018
Externally publishedYes

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