EVs released by cancer cells carry specific oncoproteins and miRNAs as cargo and are decorated with surface biomarkers informing about their organ of origin and cancer status. Therefore, deciphering EV heterogeneity has great potential to enable early cancer detection, prognosis, and to guide therapy.
EVs’ specific role depends on their size and their cargo; the characterization of EVs’ structural and biochemical features is essential to understand their diagnostic and/or prognostic potential [3]. Function-dependent morphology is best verified by microscopic techniques: however, the vast majority of EVs are too small for the resolutive power of conventional optical microscopes.
What is needed to characterize single-vesicle morphology and perform biomarker analysis at the nanoscale with SMLM?
2.Hoshino A, Kim HS, Bojmar L, Gyan KE, Cioffi M, Hernandez J, et al. Extracellular Vesicle and Particle Biomarkers Define Multiple Human Cancers. Cell [Internet]. Cell; 2020 [cited 2021 Dec 1];182:1044-1061.e18. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32795414/
3.Chen IH, Xue L, Hsu CC, Paez JSP, Panb L, Andaluz H, et al. Phosphoproteins in extracellular vesicles as candidate markers for breast cancer. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A [Internet]. National Academy of Sciences; 2017 [cited 2021 Dec 1];114:3175–80. Available from: https://www.pnas.org/content/114/12/3175
