Liquid biopsy at the crossroads of chemistry and technology: The extracellular vesicles case study

Extracellular vesicles (EV) are membranous micro- and nano-sized biological particles released by cells that play a major role in inter-cellular communication. EV shuttle an impressive amount of molecular information, including proteins and non-coding RNAs, thus representing a phenomenal source of circulating biomarkers [1]. As such, EV are arising unparalleled expectations as the next generation theranostic tools. However, several challenges are yet to be overcome to translate EV promise into daily clinical reality [2]. Here, our most recent contribution in EV research will be highlighted, with a particular focus on the interplay of chemistry and technology towards the full exploitation of EV potential. In particular, a custom EV microarray platform for the integrated isolation and analysis of EV will be presented [3]. Key features of this platform are clickable polymers for microchip coatings, the use of membrane-sensing peptides as molecular baits for small EV, an interferometric, label-free single particle counting and sizing of EV, and a fluorescence digital co-localization of surface protein markers for EV phenotyping. [1] van Niel, G., D'Angelo, G., Raposo, G., Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 2018, 213-228. [2] Konoshenko, M. Y., Lekchnov, E. A., Vlassov, A. V., Laktionov, P. P, Biomed. Res. Int. 2018, 1-27. [3] Gori, A. et al., J. Extracell. Ves. 2020, 9(1), 1751428.