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The study of extracellular vesicles (EVs) and nanoparticles (NPs) is rapidly expanding because recent discoveries have revealed a much greater complexity and diversity than was appreciated only a few years ago. New types of EVs and NPs have recently been described. Proteins and nucleic acids previously thought to be packaged in exosomes appear to be more enriched in different types of EVs and in two recently identified amembranous NPs, exomeres and supermeres. Thus, our understanding of the cell biology and intercellular communication facilitated by the release of EVs and NPs is in a state of flux. Researchers from Vanderbilt University Medical Center describe the different types of EVs and NPs, highlight recent advances, and present major outstanding questions.

Extracellular vesicles can provide a wealth of information, but these intriguing messengers are notoriously difficult to detect. This could be about to change.

The results from liquid biopsy are already beginning to inform clinical practice, while still driving research and innovation. However, invasive biopsies remain the gold standard in the majority of cases. How can liquid biopsy reach its full potential and bring non-invasive diagnosis into widespread clinical use? To address that question and many more, our new report Liquid Biopsy – A Non-Invasive Approach To Health And Disease is available to download for free now.

While it holds much future promise, the path to unlocking the full market potential of liquid biopsy is not necessarily clear to stakeholders such as pharma and biotech, diagnostics companies, and healthcare providers. We believe that:

• Pharma and biotech must invest in use beyond treatment selection
• Diagnostics manufacturers and labs must continue to focus on test quality and clinical utility
• Healthcare providers must take a more active role in driving adoption

The invasive nature of brain tumours, particularly glioblastoma, severely limits its therapy. Matrix-metalloproteinases (MMPs), enzymes involved in the degradation of the extracellular matrix, are associated with the invasiveness of brain tumours; hence, the determination of MMPs is critical for the monitoring of cancer patients. The aim of our comparative study was to evaluate the possible additional utility of the MMP-9 level of serum-derived small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) for characterising brain tumours. We established a relationship between low MMP-9 content in sEVs and improved survival, and discovered that MMP-9 levels considerably differed between tumour types and stages, showing a positive correlation with aggressiveness. We demonstrated on a large number of samples that the high MMP-9 level of serum-sEVs may serve as a negative prognostic marker for brain tumours.

The native role of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in mediating the transfer of biomolecules between cells has raised the possibility to use them as therapeutic vehicles. The development of therapies based on EVs is now expanding rapidly; here we will describe the current knowledge on different key points regarding the use of EVs in a clinical setting. These points are related to cell sources of EVs, isolation, storage, and delivery methods, as well as modifications to the releasing cells for improved production of EVs. Finally, we will depict the application of EVs therapies in clinical trials, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development of these therapies, pointing out that although it is a promising therapy for human diseases, we are still in the initial phase of its application to patients.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are essentially transport carriers that deliver necessary packages, such as proteins or metabolites, to specific cells in the body. Goldbloom-Helzner says to think of EVs as an international postal service between cells near and far.  

Clinically, EVs are observed in the blood stream of patients suffering from acute and chronic inflammation evoked by various diseases, and number of EVs in blood flow is often dependent on the inflammatory status and severity of the diseases. To date, it has been reported that small molecules such as RNAs and proteins are encapsulated in EVs; however, the functions of EVs are still unclear in the biological, pathological, and clinical aspects.

The unique physicochemical properties of EVs make them promising nanocarriers for drug transportation compared to other synthetic nanocarriers. Moreover, EVs can be further engineered to maximize their drug delivery potential. Herein, in this minireview, we gave a brief overview of EV-based drug delivery strategies for melanoma therapy, in which different therapeutics delivered via EVs were summarized. We also highlighted the current progress of the EV-based delivery platform for melanoma therapy in clinical trials.

As EVs are involved in several aspects of cancer progression including angiogenesis, organotropism, pre-metastatic niche formation, fostering of metastasis, and chemoresistance, inhibiting the release of EVs from cancer and the surrounding tumour microenvironment cells has been proposed as an ideal strategy to treat cancer and associated paraneoplastic syndromes. Lately, EVs have shown immense benefits in preclinical settings as a novel drug delivery vehicle. This review provides a brief overview of the role of EVs in various hallmarks of cancer, focusing on (i) strategies to treat cancer by therapeutically targeting the release of tumour-derived EVs and (ii) EVs as valuable drug delivery vehicles.

The main clinical applications include diagnosis, therapy, disease progression detection, prognosis, and multi-omics research. Understanding the throughout practice of metabolomics and previously established research will help us realize the current landscape and existing limitations of this technique. Although EV metabolomics appears to be promising for the future of disease diagnosis, therapy, and prognosis, to enable further clinical utilization, considerable effort will be required to address the challenges and problems that have occurred so far. Due to the vast heterogeneity and complexity of EVs, more standardized isolation and analytical guidelines should be constructed to guarantee the reliability of EVs-based research. As for metabolomics analysis, more sensitive and high-resolution methods should be provided to bring larger perspectives to decipher the inner metabolites of EVs.

Extracellular vesicles are promising nanocarriers of active pharmaceutical ingredients in precision medicine. However, to develop safe and effective extracellular vesicles-based therapies, it is crucial to gain fundamental knowledge on key cell biology mechanisms governing the extracellular vesicles-mediated cell-cell exchange of macromolecules. In this review, we present five aspects we believe are worth taking into account before considering extracellular vesicles as candidate vectors of pharmaceutical ingredients in cell-free therapies.

A working group (WG) of EV-FC researchers from ISEV, ISAC and ISTH, worked together as an EV-FC WG and developed a consensus framework for the minimum information that should be provided regarding EV-FC. This framework incorporates the existing Minimum Information for Studies of EVs (MISEV) guidelines and Minimum Information about a FC experiment (MIFlowCyt) standard in an EV-FC-specific reporting framework (MIFlowCyt-EV) that supports reporting of critical information related to sample staining, EV detection and measurement and experimental design in manuscripts that report EV-FC data. MIFlowCyt-EV provides a structure for sharing EV-FC results, but it does not prescribe specific protocols, as there will continue to be rapid evolution of instruments and methods for the foreseeable future.

Scientists have used a new device to identify a key membrane protein in urine that indicates whether the patient has a brain tumour. According to their study, the protein used to detect brain cancer could avoid the need for invasive tests, and increase the likelihood of tumours being detected early enough for surgery.

Une simple prise de sang pour jauger l'efficacité d'un traitement contre le cancer ou encore pour repérer très précocement une tumeur dans l'organisme. C'est une piste aujourd'hui explorée par les scientifiques de l'institut Curie, premier centre de lutte contre le cancer en Europe. Des dizaines d'études sont en cours pour démontrer l'utilité de l'utilisation de ce nouvel outil, la biopsie liquide, dans le suivi de patients.

Considering the challenges associated with traditional biopsies, recent oncology research has shifted its focus toward analyzing various biological fluids rather than whole tissues for tumor-derived components; a technique referred to as liquid biopsy (LB). Since blood contacts most of the tumors, LBs mostly involve blood sampling, although other body fluids like mucosa, pleural effusions, urine, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are also analyzed. Thus, LB provides enhanced sensitivity in diagnosis and ease of repeated sampling throughout treatment in a much more convenient and non-invasive way. Moreover, studies have also focused on using LBs in the early detection of tumors.

We report phosphatidylserine targeting polymer brush materials to selectively separate exosomes. This method provides an efficient separation strategy with ordinary centrifuge force, which improves the integrity and purity of the exosomes. Compared with the common methods, the content of contaminated lipoprotein in the resulting exosomes decreased obviously.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane-bound vesicles released by all cell types, differing in biogenesis, physical characteristics, and contents. Due to their central role in intercellular communication and their variable cargo, EVs are involved in several biological processes. The possibility of isolating them from different biofluids makes EVs valuable biomarkers to be analyzed for the diagnosis or prognosis of several conditions. Moreover, these natural nanoparticles have been investigated as therapeutic tools in many pathological conditions. In this context, EVs have shown innate immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory properties when isolated from stem/progenitor cells and have also been considered vehicles to be edited for drug delivery. The aim of the review is to report some of the pre-clinical and clinical studies distinguishing those in which EVs have been examined as biomarkers from those in which they have been used as therapeutics.

NASA believes that the extracellular vesicles our bodies generate after exercising, and the chemicals they contain, can trigger the restorative effects of exercise — even when no exercise has taken place.

The broad aim of NASA study is to use extracellular vesicles generated naturally by volunteers on Earth, or even artificially, to replicate the restorative effect of exercise in astronauts, essentially enabling their muscles to engage in post-exercise recovery without ever having to lift a space-suited finger.

Human cell-secreted extracellular vesicles (EVs) are versatile nanomaterials suitable for disease-targeted drug delivery and therapy. Native EVs, however, usually do not interact specifically with target cells or harbor therapeutic drugs, which limits their potential for clinical applications. These functions can be introduced to EVs by genetic manipulation of membrane protein scaffolds, although the efficiency of these manipulations and the impacts they have on the properties of EVs are for the most part unknown.

A recent study by Alvarez et al. describes the use of particle purification liquid chromatography (PPLC) as an effective methodology to isolate EVs from the blood plasma of breast cancer patients. The authors were able to characterize the differences between blood plasma-derived EVs (BEVs) from eventual responders (R) and non-responders (NR) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC).

Timegate Instruments, VTT, and the University of Oulu are offering an opportunity for a doctoral program with Timegated® Raman spectroscopy and extracellular vesicles. Timegate is one of the partners in I4WORLD - Imaging and Characterisation for a Sustainable World (2022-2027).