Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
J Extracell Vesicles. 2023 Jun;12(6):e12327. doi: 10.1002/jev2.12327.
Purifying extracellular vesicles (EVs) has been challenging because EVs are heterogeneous in cargo yet share similar sizes and densities. Most surface marker-based affinity separation methods are limited to research or diagnostic scales. We report that heparin chromatography can separate purified EVs into two distinct subpopulations as ascertained by MS/MS: a non-heparin-binding (NHB) fraction that contains classical EV markers such as tetraspanins and a heparin-binding (HB) fraction enriched in fibronectins and histones. Both fractions were similarly fusogenic but induced different transcriptional responses in endothelial cells. While EVs that were purified by conventional, non-affinity methods alone induced ERK1/2 phosphorylation and Ki67, the NHB fraction did not. This result suggests heparin chromatography as an additional novel fractionation step that is inherently scalable, does not lead to loss of material, and separates inflammatory and pyrogenic EVs from unreactive EVs, which will improve clinical applications.
从细胞外囊泡(EVs)中分离纯化物一直具有挑战性,因为 EVs 在货物方面存在异质性,但它们的大小和密度相似。大多数基于表面标志物的亲和分离方法仅限于研究或诊断规模。我们报告称,肝素层析可以将纯化的 EV 分离成两个不同的亚群,通过 MS/MS 确定:一个是非肝素结合(NHB)部分,其中包含四跨膜蛋白等经典 EV 标志物,另一个是富含纤维连接蛋白和组蛋白的肝素结合(HB)部分。这两个部分都具有相似的融合能力,但在血管内皮细胞中诱导不同的转录反应。虽然仅通过常规非亲和方法纯化的 EV 会诱导 ERK1/2 磷酸化和 Ki67,但 NHB 部分不会。这一结果表明肝素层析是一种额外的新型分馏步骤,具有内在的可扩展性,不会导致材料损失,并将炎症和致热 EV 与无反应性 EV 分离,从而改善临床应用。