PHENOTYPING OF SMALL EXTRACELLULAR VESICLES FROM CLINICALLY IMPORTANT BODY FLUIDS USING PROTEIN MICROARRAY

The Extracellular Vesicle (EV) Array is a novel microarray platform, which facilitates the ability to detect and profile EVs for the presence of multiple surfaceexposed antigens simultaneously (Jørgensen et al. 2013). The EV Array uses only small amounts (1-100 μL) of starting material and can be processed in a high-throughput manner. The diagnostic and prognostic possibilities of this technology have been explored in various technical and clinical correlations. In this study, several body fluids have successfully been tested including, urine, saliva, bone marrow, ascites, bronchoalveolar lavage, synovial and cerebrospinal fluids. For each sample type, unpurified materials have been analyzed with respect to their contents of a panel of EV related markers (CD9, CD63, CD81, CD82, TNF RI, Flotilin-1, TSG101 and Alix). A pronounced variety was seen between the body fluids with respect to the contents of EVs. This study illustrates the numerous applications of the EV Array and the possibilities to extensively phenotype small EVs from various unpurified body fluids.