Exosome separation using microfluidic systems: size‐based,immunoaffinity‐based and dynamic methodologies

Exosomes, nanovesicles secreted by most types of cells, exist in virtually all bodily fluids. Their rich nucleic acid and protein content make them potentially valuable biomarkers for noninvasive molecular diagnostics. They also show promise, after further development, to serve as a drug delivery system. Unfortunately, existing exosome separation technologies, such as ultracentrifugation and methods incorporating magnetic beads, are time‐consuming, laborious and separate only exosomes of low purity. Thus, a more effective separation method is highly desirable. Microfluidic platforms are ideal tools for exosome separation, since they enable fast, cost‐efficient, portable and precise processing of nanoparticles and small volumes of liquid samples. Recently, several microfluidic‐based exosome separation technologies have been studied. In this article, the advantages of the most recent technologies, as well as their limitations, challenges and potential uses in novel microfluidic exosome separation and collection applications is reviewed. This review outlines the uses of new powerful microfluidic exosome detection tools for biologists and clinicians, as well as exosome separation tools for microfluidic engineers. Current challenges of exosome separation methodologies are also described, in order to highlight areas for future research and development.     

Towards analyzing the potential of exosomes to deliver microRNA therapeutics

Exosome selectivity mechanisms underlying exosome–target cell interactions and the specific traits affecting their capability to communicate still remain unclear. Moreover, the capacity of exosomes to efficiently deliver their molecular cargos intracellularly needs precise investigation towards establishing functional exosome‐based delivery platforms exploitable in the clinical practice. The current study focuses on: (a) exosome production from normal MRC‐5 and Vero cells growing in culture, (b) physicochemical characterization by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and cryo‐transmission electron microscopy; (c) cellular uptake studies of rhodamine‐labeled exosomes in normal and cancer cells, providing to exosomes either “autologous” or “heterologous” cellular delivery environments; and (d) loading exogenous Alexa Fluor 488‐labeled siRNA into exosomes for the assessment of their delivering capacity by immunofluorescence in a panel of recipient cells. The data obtained thus far indicate that MRC‐5 and Vero exosomes, indeed exhibit an interesting delivering profile, as promising “bio‐shuttles,” being pharmacologically exploitable in the context of theranostic applications.     

Oncogenic and Non‐Malignant Pancreatic Exosome Cargo Reveal Distinct Expression of Oncogenic and Prognostic Factors Involved in Tumor Invasion and Metastasis

Exosomes are small extracellular membrane vesicles important in intercellular communication, with their oncogenic cargo attributed to tumor progression and pre‐metastatic niche formation. To gain an insight into key differences in oncogenic composition of exosomes, human non‐malignant epithelial and pancreatic cancer cell models and purified and characterized resultant exosome populations are utilized. Proteomic analysis reveals the selective enrichment of known exosome markers and signaling proteins in comparison to parental cells. Importantly, valuable insights into oncogenic exosomes (362 unique proteins in comparison to non‐malignant exosomes) of key metastatic regulatory factors and signaling molecules fundamental to pancreatic cancer progression (KRAS, CD44, EGFR) are provided. It is reported that oncogenic exosomes contain factors known to regulate the pre‐metastatic niche (S100A4, F3, ITGβ5, ANXA1), clinically‐relevant proteins which correlate with poor prognosis (CLDN1, MUC1) as well as protein networks involved in various cancer hallmarks including proliferation (CLU, CAV1), invasion (PODXL, ITGA3), metastasis (LAMP1, ST14) and immune surveillance escape (B2M). The presence of these factors in oncogenic exosomes offers an understanding of select differences in exosome composition during tumorigenesis, potential components as prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers in pancreatic cancer, and highlights the role of exosomes in mediating crosstalk between tumor and stromal cells.     

Liquid biopsy: A new avenue in pathology

Liquid biopsy is a relatively new entity. This non‐invasive technique provides real‐time information about a tumour. The liquid biopsy contains circulating tumour cells, cell‐free DNA and exosomes. The main indications for liquid biopsy include early diagnosis, screening, detection of minimal residual disease, designing personalised treatment and predicting biological behaviour of the tumour. In this review, we discuss various aspects of liquid biopsy and compare it with conventional biopsy.     

Targeted Exosomes for Drug Delivery: Biomanufacturing,Surface Tagging,and Validation

Exosomes hold great potential to deliver therapeutic reagents for cancer treatment due to its inherent low antigenicity. However, several technical barriers, such as low productivity and ineffective cancer targeting, need to be overcome before wide clinical applications. The present study aims at creating a new biomanufacturing platform of cancer‐targeted exosomes for drug delivery. Specifically, a scalable, robust, high‐yield, cell line based exosome production process is created in a stirred‐tank bioreactor, and an efficient surface tagging technique is developed to generate monoclonal antibody (mAb)‐exosomes. The in vitro characterization using transmission electron microscopy, NanoSight, and western blotting confirm the high quality of exosomes. Flow cytometry and confocal laser scanning microscopy demonstrate that mAb‐exosomes have strong surface binding to cancer cells. Furthermore, to validate the targeted drug delivery efficiency, romidepsin, a histone deacetylase inhibitor, is loaded into mAb‐exosomes. The in vitro anti‐cancer toxicity study shows high cytotoxicity of mAb‐exosome‐romidepsin to cancer cells. Finally, the in vivo study using tumor xenograft animal model validates the cancer targeting specificity, anti‐cancer efficacy, and drug delivery capability of the targeted exosomes. In summary, new techniques enabling targeted exosomes for drug delivery are developed to support large‐scale animal studies and to facilitate the translation from research to clinics.     

Liquid biopsies: DNA methylation analyses in circulating cell-free DNA

Analysis of patient's materials like cells or nucleic acids obtained in a minimally invasive or noninvasive manner through the sampling of blood or other body fluids serves as liquid biopsies, which has huge potential for numerous diagnostic applications. Circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is explored as a prognostic or predictive marker of liquid biopsies with the improvements in genomic and molecular methods. DNA methylation is an important epigenetic marker known to affect gene expression. cfDNA methylation detection is a very promising approach as abnormal distribution of DNA methylation is one of the hallmarks of many cancers and methylation changes occur early during carcinogenesis. This review summarizes the various investigational applications of cfDNA methylation and its oxidized derivatives as biomarkers for cancer diagnosis, prenatal diagnosis and organ transplantation monitoring. The review also provides a brief overview of the technologies for cfDNA methylation analysis based on next generation sequencing.     

Exosomes Derived from the Human Primary Colorectal Cancer Cell Line SW480 Orchestrate Fibroblast‐Led Cancer Invasion

In localized tumors, basement membrane (BM) prevents invasive outgrowth of tumor cells into surrounding tissues. When carcinomas become invasive, cancer cells either degrade BM or reprogram stromal fibroblasts to breach BM barrier and lead invasion of cancer cells into surrounding tissues in a process called fibroblast‐led invasion. However, tumor‐derived factors orchestrating fibroblast‐led invasion remain poorly understood. Here it is shown that although early‐stage primary colorectal adenocarcinoma (SW480) cells are themselves unable to invade Matrigel matrix, they secrete exosomes that reprogram normal fibroblasts to acquire de novo capacity to invade matrix and lead invasion of SW480 cells. Strikingly, cancer cells follow leading fibroblasts as collective epithelial‐clusters, thereby circumventing need for epithelial to mesenchymal transition, a key event associated with invasion. Moreover, acquisition of pro‐invasive phenotype by fibroblasts treated with SW480‐derived exosomes relied on exosome‐mediated MAPK pathway activation. Mass spectrometry‐based protein profiling reveals that cancer exosomes upregulate fibroblasts proteins implicated in focal adhesion (ITGA2/A6/AV, ITGB1/B4/B5, EGFR, CRK), regulators of actin cytoskeleton (RAC1, ARF1, ARPC3, CYFIP1, NCKAP1, ICAM1, ERM complex), and signalling pathways (MAPK, Rap1, RAC1, Ras) important in pro‐invasive remodeling of extracellular matrix. Blocking tumor exosome‐mediated signaling to fibroblasts therefore represents an attractive therapeutic strategy in restraining tumors by perturbing stroma‐driven invasive outgrowth.     

Liquid biopsy in pancreatic cancer – Current perspective and future outlook

Pancreatic cancer is a lethal condition with a rising incidence and often presents at an advanced stage, contributing to abysmal five-year survival rates. Unspecific symptoms and the current lack of biomarkers and screening tools hamper early diagnosis. New technologies for liquid biopsies and their respective evaluation in pancreatic cancer patients have emerged over recent years. The term liquid biopsy summarizes the sampling and analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), small extracellular vesicles (sEVs), and tumor DNA (ctDNA) from body fluids. The major advantages of liquid biopsies rely on their minimal invasiveness and repeatability, allowing serial sampling for dynamic insights to aid diagnosis, particularly early detection, risk stratification, and precision medicine in pancreatic cancer. However, liquid biopsies have not yet developed into a new pillar for clinicians' routine armamentarium. Here, we summarize recent findings on the use of liquid biopsy in pancreatic cancer patients. We discuss current challenges and future perspectives of this potentially powerful alternative to conventional tissue biopsies.     

表面增强拉曼散射技术无标记检测乳腺癌细胞来源外泌体

外泌体含有释放细胞的特异性物质,反映了释放细胞的组成成分,成为液体活检的重要物质。为了鉴别正常乳腺上皮细胞和乳腺癌细胞来源的外泌体,本研究采用表面增强拉曼(SERS)技术检测乳腺癌细胞MCF-7和人正常乳腺上皮细胞MCF-10A来源的外泌体,并且对比两种细胞外泌体的SERS光谱,筛选出相应的特征拉曼光谱。结果发现在800~1800 cm-1区域内,相对MCF-10A细胞,MCF-7来源的外泌体中归属于核酸的拉曼峰相对强度明显增高,且部分脂类峰强有所降低或部分特征峰消失,同时发现MCF-7还表现出其自己独特的拉曼谱型。此结果表明SERS技术可高灵敏度检测不同细胞来源的外泌体细微分子变化,可区分肿瘤细胞来源的外泌体与正常细胞来源的外泌体。SERS技术可作为癌症的早期检测和诊断的一种快速、无标记和无损的方法。     

Development and comparative analysis of human urine exosome isolation strategies

Exosomes contain virtually every type of biomolecules that have originated from parental cells. High concentrations of exosomes are found in a variety of body fluids including urine, a body fluid that can be easily and non-invasively collected. Therefore, urinary exosomes are ideal materials for liquid biopsy. Although there are some major barriers to their use which include high variability and lack of standarization of exosome isolation methods. Therefore, it is highly recommended to systemically assess urinary exosome isolation strategies in terms of isolation concentration and purity. In this study, comparative studies among eight different strategies based on ultracentrifugation, ultrafiltration, precipitation, and size exclusion chromatography (SEC) were performed for urinary exosome isolation from healthy donors. The results indicated that SEC combined with ultrafiltration was the most compromised and balanced method for urinary exosome isolation in terms of both isolation concentration and purity. SEC combined with precipitation yielded the highest purity. Thus, the appropriate urinary exosome isolation method can be chosen depending on the downstream applications of isolated urinary exosomes. This comparative analysis of urinary exosome isolation methods contributes to the discovery of exosome-associated biomarker and the development of exosome-based diagnostics.     

凝胶电泳微流控芯片提取外泌体及对人血浆外泌体中miRNA-21的测定

为了开发一种用于人体血浆中外泌体的高效快速提取和分离的新型微流控芯片,文中收集健康人体外周血液样本,自主设计并制备基于纳米多孔薄膜和琼脂糖凝胶电泳的微流芯片。提取的外泌体使用透射电镜、Nanosight和Western blotting等技术进行表征,鉴定并分析其形态、浓度和粒径分布。同时将超速离心法和微流芯片所提取的外泌体进行粒径和浓度的分析比较,探讨两种方法各自的提取效率。最后,利用RT-PCR技术分析外泌体中miRNA-21的相对表达量。凝胶电泳微流芯片可在1 h内快速的从血浆中高效率地提取出纯度高、大小完整、尺寸分布在30–200 nm之间的外泌体,满足后续下游分析的要求。通过与现有最普遍的超速离心法进行对比分析,当血浆样本量小于100μL时,凝胶电泳微流芯片提取外泌体的效率为超速离心法的3.80倍。凝胶电泳微流芯片提取外泌体的优化参数是:电场电压:100 V;琼脂糖凝胶浓度:1.0%;注射泵流速:0.1 mL/h。凝胶电泳微流芯片可快速高效地提取出外泌体,对外泌体与癌症生物标记物的相关研究具有潜在的巨大优势,也为基于外泌体的即时诊断技术提供了可能。     

Proteomic Analysis of Extracellular Vesicles for Cancer Diagnostics

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) including exosomes and microvesicles are lipid bilayer‐encapsulated nanoparticles released by cells, ranging from 40 nm to several microns in diameter. Biological cargoes including proteins, RNAs, and DNAs can be ferried by EVs to neighboring and distant cells via biofluids, serving as a means of cell‐to‐cell communication under normal and pathological conditions, especially cancers. On the other hand, EVs have been investigated as a novel “information capsule” for early disease detection and monitoring via liquid biopsy. This review summarizes current advancements in EV subtype characterization, cancer EV capture, proteomic analysis technologies, as well as possible EV‐based multiomics for cancer diagnostics.     

Microfluidic tools toward industrial biotechnology

Microfluidics is a technology that operates with small amounts of fluids and makes possible the investigation of cells, enzymes, and biomolecules and encapsulation of biocatalysts in a greater variety of conditions than permitted using conventional methods. This review discusses technological possibilities that can be applied in the field of industrial biotechnology, presenting the principal definitions and fundamental aspects of microfluidic parameters to better understand advanced approaches. Specifically, concentration gradient generators, droplet‐based microfluidics, and microbioreactors are explored as useful tools that can contribute to industrial biotechnology. These tools present potential applications, inclusive as commercial platforms to optimizing in bioprocesses development as screening cells, encapsulating biocatalysts, and determining critical kinetic parameters. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 32:1372–1389, 2016     

Visualizing of the cellular uptake and intracellular trafficking of exosomes by live‐cell microscopy

Cells release exosomes to transfer various molecules to other cells. Exosomes are involved in a number of physiological and pathological processes. They are emerging great potential utility for diseases diagnosis and treatment recently. However, the internalization and intracellular trafficking of exosomes have not been described clearly. In this work, exosomes were isolated from the culture medium of PC12 cells, labeled by lipophilic dye and amino‐reactive fluorophore, incubated with resting PC12 cells. The results of live‐cell microscopy indicated that exosomes were internalized through endocytosis pathway, trapped in vesicles, and transported to perinuclear region. Particle tracking fluorescent vesicles suggested that the active transport of exosomes may be mediated by cytoskeleton. The proteins on exosome membrane were found to be released from exosomes and trapped in lysosome. The inverted transport of lipophilic dye from perinuclear region to cell peripheries was revealed, possibly caused by recycling of the exosome lipids. This study provides new sight into the mechanisms of exosome uptake and intracellular fate. J. Cell. Biochem. 111: 488–496, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Tumour biomarkers—Tracing the molecular function and clinical implication

In recent years, with the increase in cancer mortality caused by metastasis, and with the development of individualized and precise medical treatment, early diagnosis with precision becomes the key to decrease the death rate. Since detecting tumour biomarkers in body fluids is the most non‐invasive way to identify the status of tumour development, it has been widely investigated for the usage in clinic. These biomarkers include different expression or mutation in microRNAs (miRNAs), circulating tumour DNAs (ctDNAs), proteins, exosomes and circulating tumour cells (CTCs). In the present article, we summarized and discussed some updated research on these biomarkers. We overviewed their biological functions and evaluated their multiple roles in human and small animal clinical treatment, including diagnosis of cancers, classification of cancers, prognostic and predictive values for therapy response, monitors for therapy efficacy, and anti‐cancer therapeutics. Biomarkers including different expression or mutation in miRNAs, ctDNAs, proteins, exosomes and CTCs provide more choice for early diagnosis of tumour detection at early stage before metastasis. Combination detection of these tumour biomarkers may provide higher accuracy at the lowest molecule combination number for tumour early detection. Moreover, tumour biomarkers can provide valuable suggestions for clinical anti‐cancer treatment and execute monitoring of treatment efficiency.     

Liquid biopsy for early diagnosis of non-small cell lung carcinoma: recent research and detection technologies

Liquid biopsy, an innovative method for early diagnosis of cancer, has changed the traditional method of diagnosing lung cancer and is considered a feasible auxiliary diagnostic tool. To date, various reports emphasize the need for non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), both with higher incidence and mortality and less effective treatments; thus, emphasizing the need for early detection of NSCLC for improved patient outcomes. Invasive tissue biopsy is a common diagnostic tool that is usually extracted from the primary tumor to indicate molecular composition. In comparison, liquid biopsy taken from body fluid reflects extensive malignant features nonexistent in primary tumors. Owing to new detection technologies, liquid biopsy reduces the need for invasive treatments and enhances the accuracy and specificity of early detection of cancer in clinical settings. This review summarizes some latest research on the diagnosis of early-stage NSCLC via liquid biopsy, including circulating DNA, circulating tumor cells, exosomes, and tumor-educated platelets, as well as their detection technologies, such as fluorescence in-situ hybridization-based, polymerase chain reaction-based, next-generation sequencing-based, Chip-based, and microfluidic methods. Additionally, we outline the existing challenges and possible solutions for liquid-biopsy biomarkers. Our study mainly highlights the merits of liquid biopsy as a promising biomarker for non-invasive detection in the future, particularly for the early detection of NSCLC, thereby benefitting human health.     

On a chip

The future of clinical and POC BioMEMS is very bright. With an increasing emphasis on the personalization of medicine and the rising costs of health care, early detection and diagnostics at the POC will be even more important. Early detection implies early intervention, resulting in the saving of lives and reducing overall spending. The potential impact of these technologies on the early diagnosis and management of both communicable and noncommunicable diseases is very high. Many grand challenges applications are possible, e.g., routine tests such as complete blood cell count on a chip that an individual can perform at home; detection of cardiac markers from blood after a perceived heart attack; detection of cancer markers such as exosomes, CTCs from blood, or protein biomarkers in serum; and detection of infectious agents such as virus and bacteria for public health. These applications are expected to result in new diagnostic assays for home, doctor's office, clinical laboratories, and various POC settings.     

Hydrogel microchip as a tool for studying exosomes in human serum

Exosomes are cell-derived vesicles that are secreted by both normal and cancer cells. Over the last decade, a few studies have revealed that exosomes cross talk and/or influence major tumor-related pathways such as angiogenesis and metastasis involving many cell types within the tumor microenvironment. The protein composition of the membrane of an exosome reflects that of the membrane of the cell of origin. Because of this, tumor-derived exosomes differ from exosomes that are derived from normal cells. The detection of tumor exosomes and analysis of their molecular composition hold promise for diagnosis and prognosis of cancer. Here, we present hydrogel microarrays (biochips), which contain a panel of immobilized antibodies that recognize tetraspanins (CD9, CD63, CD81) and prognostic markers for colorectal cancer (A33, CD147). These biochips make it possible to analyze the surface proteins of either isolated exosomes or exosomes that are present in the serum samples without isolation. These biochips were successfully used to analyze the surface proteins of exosomes from serum that was collected from a colorectal cancer patient and healthy donor. Biochip-guided immunofluorescent analysis of the exosomes has made it possible for us to detect the A33 antigen and CD147 in the serum sample of the colorectal cancer patient with normal levels of CEA and CA19-9.     

Cellular Internalization of Exosomes Occurs Through Phagocytosis

Exosomes play important roles in many physiological and pathological processes. However, the exosome–cell interaction mode and the intracellular trafficking pathway of exosomes in their recipient cells remain unclear. Here, we report that exosomes derived from K562 or MT4 cells are internalized more efficiently by phagocytes than by non‐phagocytic cells. Most exosomes were observed attached to the plasma membrane of non‐phagocytic cells, while in phagocytic cells these exosomes were found to enter via phagocytosis. Specifically, they moved to phagosomes together with phagocytic polystyrene carboxylate‐modified latex beads (biospheres) and were further sorted into phagolysosomes. Moreover, exosome internalization was dependent on the actin cytoskeleton and phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase, and could be inhibited by the knockdown of dynamin2 or overexpression of a dominant‐negative form of dynamin2. Further, antibody pretreatment assays demonstrated that tim4 but not tim1 was involved in exosomes uptake. We also found that exosomes did not enter the internalization pathway involving caveolae, macropinocytosis and clathrin‐coated vesicles. Our observation that the cellular uptake of exosomes occurs through phagocytosis has important implications for exosome–cell interactions and the exosome intracellular trafficking pathway.