Abstract

Extracellular Vesicles: Challenges and Opportunities for Single Particle Analysis

John Nolan, CEO, Cellarcus Biosciences, Inc.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are released by all cells and represent a rich source of potential biomarkers. However, EVs in biofluids such as plasma are extremely heterogeneous, and discriminating informative signal from obscuring noise limits the usefulness of bulk analysis methods such as PCR or Western blot. Single vesicle analysis has the potential to resolve this heterogeneity, but small size and low analyte abundance challenges conventional single particle analysis approaches. Overcoming these challenges will require new measurement tools, including instruments, reagents, and standards that can be integrated into assays with improved sensitivity, specificity, and reproducibility. I will review the state of EV analysis, and highlight new insights provided by high resolution single vesicle flow cytometry (vFC) into the compositional and functional diversity of EVs.