Momen-Heravi Fatemeh, Balaj Leonora, Alian Sara, Tigges John, Toxavidis Vasilis, Ericsson Maria, Distel Robert J, Ivanov Alexander R, Skog Johan, Kuo Winston Patrick
Harvard Catalyst Laboratory for Innovative Translational Technologies, Harvard Medical School Boston, MA, USA.
Front Physiol. 2012 Sep 7;3:354. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2012.00354. eCollection 2012.
Extracellular vesicles (ECVs) are nano-sized vesicles released by all cells in vitro as well as in vivo. Their role has been implicated mainly in cell-cell communication, but also in disease biomarkers and more recently in gene delivery. They represent a snapshot of the cell status at the moment of release and carry bioreactive macromolecules such as nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids. A major limitation in this emerging new field is the availability/awareness of techniques to isolate and properly characterize ECVs. The lack of gold standards makes comparing different studies very difficult and may potentially hinder some ECVs-specific evidence. Characterization of ECVs has also recently seen many advances with the use of Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis, flow cytometry, cryo-electron microscopy instruments, and proteomic technologies. In this review, we discuss the latest developments in translational technologies involving characterization methods including the facts in their support and the challenges they face.
细胞外囊泡（ECV）是细胞在体外和体内释放的纳米级囊泡。其作用主要涉及细胞间通讯，也与疾病生物标志物有关，最近还涉及基因传递。它们代表了释放时刻细胞状态的快照，并携带生物活性大分子，如核酸、蛋白质和脂质。这个新兴领域的一个主要限制是分离和正确表征ECV的技术的可用性/认知度。缺乏金标准使得比较不同研究非常困难，可能会阻碍一些特定于ECV的证据。最近，随着纳米颗粒跟踪分析、流式细胞术、冷冻电子显微镜仪器和蛋白质组学技术的应用，ECV的表征也取得了许多进展。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了涉及表征方法的转化技术的最新发展，包括它们的支持依据和面临的挑战。
