Advances in the Analysis of Single Extracellular Vesicles: A Critical Review

Overview

Journal Sens Actuators Rep

Specialty Biotechnology

Date 2022 Jan 31

PMID 35098157

Authors

Shannon H Hilton

Ian M White

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

There is an ever-growing need for new cancer diagnostic approaches that provide earlier diagnosis as well as richer diagnostic, prognostic, and resistance information. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) recovered from a liquid biopsy have paradigm-shifting potential to offer earlier and more complete diagnostic information in the form of a minimally invasive liquid biopsy. However, much remains unknown about EVs, and current analytical approaches are unable to provide precise information about the contents and source of EVs. New approaches have emerged to analyze EVs at the single particle level, providing the opportunity to study biogenesis, correlate markers for higher specificity, and connect EV cargo with the source or destination. In this critical review we describe and analyze methods for single EV analysis that have emerged over the last five years. In addition, we note that current methods are limited in their adoption due to cost and complexity and we offer opportunities for the research community to address this challenge.

Citing Articles

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Zarovni N, Mladenovic D, Brambilla D, Panico F, Chiari M J Extracell Vesicles. 2025; 14(2):e70034.

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Quantitative fluorescent nanoparticle tracking analysis and nano-flow cytometry enable advanced characterization of single extracellular vesicles.

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Deep learning-enabled filter-free fluorescence microscope.

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Fanelli M, Petrone V, Chirico R, Radu C, Minutolo A, Matteucci C Extracell Vesicles Circ Nucl Acids. 2024; 5(3):417-437.

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