外泌体分离技术及其临床应用研究进展

外泌体是细胞通过胞吐过程分泌的一类粒径为30~200 nm的囊泡，其组成包括脂质双分子层以及其内部包裹的细胞来源的蛋白质、核糖核苷酸（RNA）和脱氧核糖核苷酸（DNA）等生物分子。作为一种细胞间交流的重要方式，外泌体在一系列生理和病理过程中起着至关重要的作用。由于体液环境复杂，加之自身体积小、密度低，外泌体的富集与分离对于其后续分析和功能研究至关重要。该文介绍了外泌体的研究策略、表征手段及生物学功能和临床应用研究进展，特别对外泌体的提取方法进行了详细介绍，并加以系统评述。     

微流控技术在外泌体分离分析中的研究进展

外泌体是一类由细胞分泌的含有脂质、蛋白、核酸等多种物质的纳米级囊泡,主要参与细胞间的物质交换及信息传导,与多种疾病的发生发展密切相关。对外泌体进行深入研究,理解其生物学功能,对疾病诊断与治疗具有重要意义。由于外泌体尺寸较小且密度和体液接近,想要对复杂生物样本中的外泌体进行分离与分析十分困难。传统的外泌体分离方法如超速离心、超滤等大都需要借助大型仪器设备,且耗时长、操作复杂。因此迫切需要开发高效、便捷的外泌体分离检测手段。微流控技术因其微型化、高通量、可集成等特点,为外泌体的分离分析提供了一个新的平台。该文主要对近年来微流控技术在外泌体分离分析相关领域的研究进展进行了综述。重点从外泌体物理特性和生化特性两个角度出发,介绍了微流控芯片技术用于外泌体分离领域的主要原理、策略和方法。此外,还介绍了微流控技术与荧光、电化学传感、表面等离子体共振等多模态检测方法结合,实现外泌体一体化分析的新进展。最后,该文分析了目前微流控技术用于外泌体分离检测存在的挑战,并对其发展趋势和前景进行了展望。随着微流控外泌体分离分析装置的不断微型化、集成化、自动化,微流控芯片技术将在外泌体分离、生化检测、机制研究等方面将发挥越来越重要的作用。     

外泌体在糖尿病治疗中的研究进展

糖尿病（DMs）是威胁人类健康的严重代谢性疾病,其发病机制尚未明确,致病原因颇多。现已有多种糖尿病治疗方案,如注射外源胰岛素、植物源性天然产物、干细胞疗法等,但均存在难以改善胰岛β细胞、生物利用度差、免疫排斥等问题,因此亟待开发更加安全有效的治疗方案。外泌体（Exosomes）作为一种细胞分泌的囊泡,含有细胞内所有重要物质,且参与细胞间信息与物质传递,随着间充质干细胞等糖尿病有效治疗方案的逐步问世,同时包含多类同类物质的外泌体在糖尿病治疗中的潜力也逐步凸显,其可以通过多种途径同时降糖的作用被报道。本文综述了近十几年外泌体在Ⅰ型糖尿病（T1DM）与Ⅱ型糖尿病（T2DM）中的治疗方案,并介绍了其分子机制与具体治疗作用,以便为促进外泌体治疗策略在临床中的落实和应用提供参考。     

肿瘤外泌体的分析检测

肿瘤外泌体是由肿瘤细胞释放到细胞外环境的微小囊泡,其直径约为30~150 nm,主要存在于血液、尿液、唾液等多种体液中,是早期肿瘤诊断的标志物之一。肿瘤外泌体具有较好的稳定性且含量丰富,因此是液体活检标志物的研究热点。肿瘤外泌体携带母细胞相关的蛋白、脂质和核酸等生物活性物质,为生物检测提供了多种特征标志物。本文就肿瘤外泌体的生成、分离、表征及分析检测进行了论述,重点讨论了肿瘤外泌体检测的研究进展。     

血清和血清外泌体的蛋白质组分析及其在肝内胆管癌中的应用

外泌体是由各种类型细胞在正常或非正常生理情况下分泌释放至细胞外且携带多种生物活性分子的细胞外囊泡,在细胞间通讯和免疫应答等生物过程中发挥着重要作用。肝内胆管癌是一种胆道上皮恶性肿瘤,早期无明显临床症状且生存率较低,目前常用的诊断手段包括依赖于影像设备的诊断方式和灵敏度及特异性较低的诊断标志物等,这些手段的不足对发展新的特异性标志物提出了需求。该文对血清中的外泌体进行了分离和表征,并采用液相色谱-质谱技术针对健康组与肝内胆管癌患者组的血清样本和血清外泌体样本进行了无标记定量蛋白质组学分析,分别从两种类型样本中鉴定并筛选到271和430种可信蛋白质。基于血清样本和血清外泌体样本的可信蛋白质定量表达值进行多维统计分析都能将健康组与肝内胆管癌患者组良好地区分开。对血清样本中鉴定到的蛋白质进行差异蛋白质筛选,肝内胆管癌患者组相对于健康组有15个上调和8个下调蛋白质;对血清外泌体样本中鉴定到的蛋白质进行差异蛋白质筛选,肝内胆管癌患者组相对于健康组有33个上调和18个下调蛋白质;基于两种样本筛选到的差异蛋白质中仅有4个是重复的,且基于血清外泌体样本的51个差异蛋白质中有35个蛋白质属于外泌体蛋白质数据库。针对差异蛋白质进行生物学信息分析,与差异蛋白质相关的分子功能、生物过程和信号通路主要涉及天然免疫反应、炎症反应和凝血等过程。该研究为发现肝内胆管癌的潜在生物标志物和探究肝内胆管癌的发生、发展和转移等过程提供了参考和借鉴价值。此外,通过比较研究发现血清外泌体样本能够获得较多的差异蛋白质和生物学信息,证明了外泌体作为组学分析样本的价值和应用潜力。     

外泌体分离与纯化技术研究进展

外泌体是所有真核细胞分泌到细胞外的直径介于30～150 nm的一种膜性纳米囊泡,参与细胞间生物信号的传递。大量实验证据表明,外泌体参与多种生物功能并发挥重要作用,包括蛋白质、RNA和脂质等生物分子的转移及多种疾病生理和病理过程的调节,被认为是疾病诊断、治疗和预后的重要的生物标志物和药物载体,因此发展简单、高效、经济的外泌体分离与纯化技术将有助于疾病的早期诊断和精准治疗。目前,利用外泌体的物理化学和生物化学特性已开发出多种分离外泌体的技术,但仍缺乏标准化和规模化临床级外泌体的分离方法,从而限制了其临床应用。另外,对分离出的外泌体的特征、纯度和数量的鉴定是判断外泌体分离纯化方法优劣的重要指标。本文综述了外泌体分离与纯化技术以及鉴定方法的研究进展,主要讨论分离技术的机制、性能、挑战和前景以及外泌体的鉴定方法,以期为外泌体的分离纯化提供新的思路和解决策略。     

细胞膜锚定DNA四面体传感器实时监测外泌体的分泌

外泌体是细胞主动分泌的一种纳米级双层膜结构的小囊泡,能够直接反映分泌细胞的生理和功能状态,进行细胞间的物质运输和信息通讯,并参与多种生理及病理过程.本文针对细胞分泌外泌体的动态过程,以DNA四面体为基础,结合细胞膜修饰技术和荧光成像技术,构建了一种易操作、高稳定性的细胞膜表面DNA四面体传感器,应用于不同细胞类型分泌外泌体的实时监测.DNA四面体传感器通过脚支链与疏水性胆固醇探针的杂交互补作用锚定于细胞膜表面,利用四跨膜蛋白CD63核酸适配体序列特异性捕获细胞膜表面释放的外泌体,通过监测细胞膜表面荧光的变化,实时测定外泌体的分泌情况.     

血清外泌体的蛋白质组分析及其在骨质疏松中的应用

外泌体是细胞分泌的微小具膜囊泡，作为重要媒介参与细胞间的信号传递，已在疾病的诊断和治疗中发挥独特作用。骨质疏松症是全身性骨代谢疾病，容易引起骨密度减少并导致骨折，在老年人群中发病率很高，目前急需发展特异性体液诊断技术。本论文采用超速离心的方法，对血清中的外泌体进行了分离富集和表征，并采用液相色谱-质谱进行了外泌体蛋白质组学分析，共鉴定到了179个外泌体蛋白质，主要参与防御响应和免疫应答等生物过程。针对来自正常对照组、骨量减少组和骨质疏松组的血清样本，分离富集其中的外泌体，通过免标记定量蛋白质组学分析，分别鉴定到188、224和185个蛋白质。定量分析显示17个蛋白质的表达量在骨质疏松组和骨量减少组有显著改变（p<0.05），包括Integrin β 3、Integrin α 2 β 1、Talin 1和Gelsolin等，说明人体骨质在衰变过程中发生了系统性变化，并体现在血清外泌体中。该研究可为骨质疏松研究提供潜在的分子标志物，有助于阐明其病变机制。     

基于核酸适体的外泌体分子识别研究进展

自研究者证实外泌体承担了细胞外RNA等物质的运输功能以来, 关于外泌体来源与功能的研究一直备受关注. 近年来外泌体被发现具有作为疾病生物标志物的潜力, 使得拥有特定表面蛋白以及特定装载物的外泌体成为分析化学领域有价值的检测对象. 从化学本质角度来说, 外泌体的获取与分析需要依赖特异性的分子识别过程. 核酸适体作为分子识别单元, 因其特异性强、 亲和力高、 生物活性稳定、 易于合成和保存、 而且其序列和结构上具有可编程性, 易于设计和修饰, 已成功地用在外泌体相关的生物传感体系中. 本文从外泌体的化学组成及其具有生理、 病理意义的组分出发, 从外泌体通用生物标志物识别、癌细胞来源外泌体的检测及外泌体蛋白谱的分析这3个方面综述了以核酸适体作为分子识别单元在外泌体分析领域的代表性工作, 总结了现有的靶向外泌体的核酸适体序列信息以及应用场景, 阐述了利用化学合成与修饰以及DNA自组装等化学调控手段增强核酸适体分子识别性能的最新进展, 并从适用于外泌体分子识别的核酸适体的筛选以及化学修饰的角度, 对未来的研究方向进行了展望.     

基于串联质量标记的帕金森病血浆及血浆外泌体定量蛋白质组学分析

外泌体是一类可由各种细胞在生理和病理条件下释放的细胞外囊泡,其携带了多种生物活性分子,是疾病标志物的良好载体。目前,帕金森病(Parkinson’s disease, PD)的诊断主要依靠临床表现,缺乏客观的疾病诊断标志物。因此,新型外周血特异性标志物的开发将有助于PD的早期筛查与诊疗。在本研究中,选取PD患者与正常对照人群的血浆及血浆外泌体作为研究对象,采用基于串联质量标记(tandem mass tag, TMT)的液相色谱-串联质谱(LC-MS/MS)技术对其进行定量蛋白质组学分析,在血浆和血浆外泌体样品中分别定量到724和611个蛋白质。采用基因集富集分析(gene set enrichment analysis, GSEA)对定量到的所有蛋白质进行生物学信息分析,以了解蛋白质的基因本体论(gene ontology, GO)、京都基因和基因组百科全书(Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes, KEGG)通路富集情况。根据细胞组分(cellular component, CC)分析,PD和正常对照组血浆样本中的差异表达蛋白质主要定位于细胞...     

Advances in exosome isolation methods and their applications in proteomic analysis of biological samples

Exosomes are membrane-bound vesicles secreted by cells, and contain various important biological molecules, such as lipids, proteins, messenger RNAs, microRNAs, and noncoding RNAs. Emerging evidence demonstrates that proteomic analysis of exosomes is of great significance in studying metabolic diseases, tumor metastasis, immune regulation, and so forth. However, exosome proteomic analysis has high requirements with regard to the purity of collected exosomes. Here recent advances in the methods for isolating exosomes and their applications in proteomic analysis are summarized.

Graphical abstract

     

Characterisation of exosomes derived from human cells by nanoparticle tracking analysis and scanning electron microscopy

Exosomes from three different cell types (HEK 293T, ECFC, MSC) were characterised by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA). The diameter was around 110 nm for the three cell types. The stability of exosomes was examined during storage at -20°C, 4°C, and 37°C. The size of the exosomes decreased at 4°C and 37°C, indicating a structural change or degradation. Multiple freezing to -20°C and thawing did not affect the exosome size. Multiple ultracentrifugation also did not change the exosome size.     

Difference gel electrophoresis analysis of Ras-transformed fibroblast cell-derived exosomes

Exosomes are membrane vesicles of endocytic origin released by many cell types. The molecular composition of exosomes reflects the specialised functions of their original cells. For example, these vesicles can mediate communication through their ability to bind to target cells, facilitating processes such as vascular homeostasis and antigen presentation. Although the proteomes of exosomes from several cell types are known, exploration of exosomes from additional cell types may improve our understanding of their potential physiological roles. Here, we describe the isolation and characterisation of exosomes isolated from the culture medium of murine fibroblast NIH3T3 cells and Ras-transformed NIH3T3 cells. The vesicular nature and size (30-100 nm) of the purified fibroblast exosomes was confirmed by electron microscopy. 2-D difference gel electrophoresis (DIGE) was used to compare protein profiles of exosomes secreted from NIH3T3 cells and Ras-transformed NIH3T3 cells. LC-MS/MS sequencing identified proteins in 188 protein spots in the exosomes from the two cell lines, many of which have been previously identified in exosomes from other cell types. However, some proteins identified are novel for fibroblast exosomes, such as Serpin B6. Over 34 proteins, including milk fat globule EGF factor 8 (lactadherin), collagen alpha-1 (VI), 14-3-3 isoforms, guanine nucleotide-binding proteins (G proteins), the eukaryotic translation initiation factors elF-3 gamma and elF-5A accumulated (>2-fold) in exosomes upon Ras-induced oncogenic transformation. Significantly, the 10.4-fold increase in v-Ha-Ras p21 protein in exosomes derived from Ras-transformed NIH3T3 cells suggests that exosome secretion may be implicated in eradication of obsolete proteins.     

Aptamer/AuNP Biosensor for Colorimetric Profiling of Exosomal Proteins

Exosomes constitute an emerging biomarker for cancer diagnosis because they carry multiple proteins that reflect the origins of parent cells. Assessing exosome surface proteins provides a powerful means of identifying a combination of biomarkers for cancer diagnosis. We report a sensor platform that profiles exosome surface proteins in minutes by the naked eye. The sensor consists of a gold nanoparticle (AuNP) complexed with a panel of aptamers. The complexation of aptamers with AuNPs protects the nanoparticles from aggregating in a high‐salt solution. In the presence of exosomes, the non‐specific and weaker binding between aptamers and the AuNP is broken, and the specific and stronger binding between exosome surface protein and the aptamer displaces aptamers from the AuNP surface and results in AuNP aggregation. This aggregation results in a color change and generates patterns for the identification of multiple proteins on the exosome surface.     

Efficient exosome extraction through the conjugation of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for the targeted delivery in rat brain

Exosomes possess endogenous attributes and distinct biological functions, and thereby, their uses as drug nanocarriers have attracted increasing attention for biomedical practices. However, to achieve targeted therapeutic purposes, complicated extractions, as well as modifications of exosomes, are involved. Here, based on the use of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles conjugated exosome (Ex-SPIONs), a facile exosome extraction through magnetism was established. The produced Ex-SPIONs exhibited a uniform size distribution and desirable biocompatibility. Moreover, taking advantage of the magnetic properties of SPIONs, the targeted delivery of Ex-SPIONs was demonstrated in the rat brain. Therefore, the constructed SPIONs functionalized exosome shows promising therapeutic potentials, including the treatment of brain diseases.     

Quantitative nanostructural and single-molecule force spectroscopy biomolecular analysis of human-saliva-derived exosomes

Exosomes are naturally occurring nanoparticles with unique structure, surface biochemistry, and mechanical characteristics. These distinct nanometer-sized bioparticles are secreted from the surfaces of oral epithelial cells into saliva and are of interest as oral-cancer biomarkers. We use high- resolution AFM to show single-vesicle quantitative differences between exosomes derived from normal and oral cancer patient's saliva. Compared to normal exosomes (circular, 67.4 ± 2.9 nm), our findings indicate that cancer exosome populations are significantly increased in saliva and display irregular morphologies, increased vesicle size (98.3 ± 4.6 nm), and higher intervesicular aggregation. At the single-vesicle level, cancer exosomes exhibit significantly (P < 0.05) increased CD63 surface densities. To our knowledge, it represents the first report detecting single-exosome surface protein variations. Additionally, high-resolution AFM imaging of cancer saliva samples revealed discrete multivesicular bodies with intraluminal exosomes enclosed. We discuss the use of quantitative, nanoscale ultrastructural and surface biomolecular analysis of saliva exosomes at single-vesicle- and single-protein-level sensitivities as a potentially new oral cancer diagnostic.     

A Pretreatment‐Free,Polymer‐Based Platform Prepared by Molecular Imprinting and Post‐Imprinting Modifications for Sensing Intact Exosomes

Exosomes are small (30–100 nm) membrane vesicles that serve as regulatory agents for intercellular communication in cancers. Currently, exosomes are detected by immuno‐based assays with appropriate pretreatments like ultracentrifugation and are time consuming (>12 h). We present a novel pretreatment‐free fluorescence‐based sensing platform for intact exosomes, wherein exchangeable antibodies and fluorescent reporter molecules were aligned inside exosome‐binding cavities. Such antibody‐containing fluorescent reporter‐grafted nanocavities were prepared on a substrate by well‐designed molecular imprinting and post‐imprinting modifications to introduce antibodies and fluorescent reporter molecules only inside the binding nanocavities, enabling sufficiently high sensitivity to detect intact exosomes without pretreatment. The effectiveness of the system was demonstrated by using it to discriminate between normal exosomes and those originating from prostate cancer and analyze exosomes in tear drops.     

A Pretreatment‐Free,Polymer‐Based Platform Prepared by Molecular Imprinting and Post‐Imprinting Modifications for Sensing Intact Exosomes

Exosomes are small (30–100 nm) membrane vesicles that serve as regulatory agents for intercellular communication in cancers. Currently, exosomes are detected by immuno‐based assays with appropriate pretreatments like ultracentrifugation and are time consuming (>12 h). We present a novel pretreatment‐free fluorescence‐based sensing platform for intact exosomes, wherein exchangeable antibodies and fluorescent reporter molecules were aligned inside exosome‐binding cavities. Such antibody‐containing fluorescent reporter‐grafted nanocavities were prepared on a substrate by well‐designed molecular imprinting and post‐imprinting modifications to introduce antibodies and fluorescent reporter molecules only inside the binding nanocavities, enabling sufficiently high sensitivity to detect intact exosomes without pretreatment. The effectiveness of the system was demonstrated by using it to discriminate between normal exosomes and those originating from prostate cancer and analyze exosomes in tear drops.