Molecular mechanisms and clinical applications of exosomes in prostate cancer

Cui, Xiaolin; Fu, Qiang; Wang, Xueying; Xia, Pengcheng; Cui, Xianglun; Bai, Xiaohui; Lu, Zhiming

doi:10.1186/s40364-022-00398-w

Biomarker Research

Table 1 Techniques for exosome isolation and identification and their advantages and disadvantages

From: Molecular mechanisms and clinical applications of exosomes in prostate cancer

Separation technology		Advantages	Disadvantages	Refs
Exosome isolation techniques
Centrifugation techniques	Ultracentrifugation (UC)	First used Well-developed	Low purity	[52, 53]
Centrifugation techniques	Density gradient centrifugation	Higher purity than UC	Low yield Time-consuming	[54, 55]
Size-based techniques	Ultrafiltration	High purity High particle yield	Exosome damage Time-consuming	[50, 53, 56]
Size-based techniques	Size exclusion chromatography	Reproducible Cost-effective Nondestructive	High workload Possible contamination	[50, 57]
Capture-based techniques	Magnetic beads and immunoaffinity	High purity Specific isolation Time save	Not high-throughput High cost Low yield Only specifically labeled exosomes are isolated	[50, 58]
Capture-based techniques	Heparin affinity	Wide range of affinity High recovery	Possible contamination Unspecified mechanism	[53, 59]
Precipitation	Polyethylene glycol precipitation	Suitable for commercial kits Convenient operation	High contamination Unstable results	[53, 60, 61]
Microfluidic systems	Based on size, density, immunoaffinity, and additional novel sorting mechanisms	Efficient acquisition Continuous separation with small samples	High requirements for equipment	[62, 63]
Exosome identification techniques
Size-based technology	Nanoparticle tracking analysis	Fast detection High lower-detection limit	Difficult to distinguish similarly sized impurities	[64, 65]
	Tunable resistive pulse sensing	Fast detection	Poor specificity	[65]
	Dynamic light scattering	Fast detection High lower-detection limit	Applicable only to transparent solutions	[66, 67]
Morphology-based technology	Transmission electron microscopy	High accuracy Internal structures visible	Complex operation Possible deformation caused by preprocessing Low through-put	[16, 68]
	Scanning electron microscopy	High accuracy Surface structures are visible		[69]
	Atomic force microscopy Cryo-electron microscopy	High accuracy	Costly equipment, Low-throughput	[16]
Marker protein-based technology	Western blotting	Technology maturity Low threshold	For single marker	[64]
	ELISA	High specificity High through-put	Complex operation Time-consuming	[64]
	Flow cytometry	High through-put	Heavy reliance on high-level operations High lower-detection limit	[70]

Back to article page

ISSN: 2050-7771

Contact us

General enquiries: journalsubmissions@springernature.com