Single extracellular vesicle analysis for early cancer detection

Scott Ferguson; Katherine S Yang; Ralph Weissleder

doi:10.1016/j.molmed.2022.05.003

Single extracellular vesicle analysis for early cancer detection

Trends Mol Med. 2022 Aug;28(8):681-692. doi: 10.1016/j.molmed.2022.05.003. Epub 2022 May 24.

Authors

Scott Ferguson¹, Katherine S Yang¹, Ralph Weissleder²

Affiliations

¹ Center for Systems Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 185 Cambridge St, CPZN 5206, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
² Center for Systems Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 185 Cambridge St, CPZN 5206, Boston, MA 02114, USA; Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address: rweissleder@mgh.harvard.edu.

Abstract

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are actively shed into the circulation from both cancer and host cells. EVs are emerging as one of the diagnostic frontrunners for early cancer detection, disease monitoring, and treatment evaluation. The advantages of EVs rely on the fact that vesicles are being shed by dividing tumor cells, with indications that human and viral oncogenes, cellular metabolic rate, and tumor characteristics such as pH and hypoxia contribute to the high shed rates in cancer. In this review, we provide an overview of EVs and the rationale for using them for early cancer detection. We examine emerging technologies for single EV analysis (sEVA) and why these technologies will be necessary for early cancer detection.

Keywords: cancer; early detection; exosome; extracellular vesicle.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Extracellular Vesicles* / metabolism
Humans
Neoplasms* / diagnosis
Neoplasms* / metabolism

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding