Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu 226001, China.
Research Center of Clinical Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu 226001, China.
Biomed Res Int. 2018 Jul 26;2018:3634563. doi: 10.1155/2018/3634563. eCollection 2018.
Exosomes are discrete populations of small (40-200 nm in diameter) membranous vesicles that are released into the extracellular space by most cell types, eventually accumulating in the circulation. As molecular messengers, exosomes exert a broad array of vital physiologic functions by transporting information between different cell types. Because of these functional properties, they may have potential as biomarker sources for prognostic and diagnostic disease. Recent research has found that exosomes have potential to be utilized as drug delivery agents for therapeutic targets. However, basic researches on exosomes and researches on their therapeutic potential both require the existence of effective and rapid methods for their separation from human samples. In the current absence of a standardized method, there are several methods available for the separation of exosomes, but very few studies have previously compared the efficiency and suitability of these different methods. This review summarized and compared the available traditional and novel methods for the extraction of exosomes from human samples and considered their advantages and disadvantages for use in clinical laboratories and point-of-care settings.
外泌体是一类直径为 40-200nm 的小型膜性囊泡，它们由大多数细胞类型释放到细胞外空间，最终积累在循环中。作为分子信使，外泌体通过在不同细胞类型之间传递信息，发挥广泛的重要生理功能。由于这些功能特性，它们可能有作为预后和诊断疾病的生物标志物来源的潜力。最近的研究发现，外泌体有可能被用作治疗靶点的药物递送剂。然而，对外泌体的基础研究和对其治疗潜力的研究都需要存在有效的、快速的方法来从人体样本中分离出它们。目前，由于缺乏标准化的方法，有几种从人体样本中分离外泌体的方法，但之前很少有研究比较过这些不同方法的效率和适用性。本综述总结并比较了从人体样本中提取外泌体的现有传统和新型方法，并考虑了它们在临床实验室和即时护理环境中的优缺点。
