Microfluidic approaches for isolation, detection, and characterization of extracellular vesicles: Current status and future directions

Shima Gholizadeh; Mohamed Shehata Draz; Maryam Zarghooni; Amir Sanati-Nezhad; Saeid Ghavami; Hadi Shafiee; Mohsen Akbari

doi:10.1016/j.bios.2016.12.062

Microfluidic approaches for isolation, detection, and characterization of extracellular vesicles: Current status and future directions

Biosens Bioelectron. 2017 May 15:91:588-605. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2016.12.062. Epub 2016 Dec 30.

Authors

Shima Gholizadeh¹, Mohamed Shehata Draz², Maryam Zarghooni³, Amir Sanati-Nezhad⁴, Saeid Ghavami⁵, Hadi Shafiee², Mohsen Akbari⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmaceutics, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
² Division of Engineering in Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA.
³ Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto Alumni, Toronto, Canada.
⁴ Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Center for Bioengineering Research and Education, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
⁵ Department of Pharmaceutics, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Division of Engineering in Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA; Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto Alumni, Toronto, Canada; Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Center for Bioengineering Research and Education, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Department of Human Anatomy& Cell Science, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada; Children Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, University of Manitoba, Canada; Health Research Policy Centre, Shiraz University of Medical Science, Shiraz, Iran.
⁶ Laboratory for Innovation in Microengineering (LiME), Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Victoria, 3800 Finnerty Rd., Victoria, BC, Canada V8P 2C5; Center for Biomedical Research, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada; Center for Advanced Materials and Related Technology (CAMTEC), University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada. Electronic address: makbari@uvic.ca.

Abstract

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are cell-derived vesicles present in body fluids that play an essential role in various cellular processes, such as intercellular communication, inflammation, cellular homeostasis, survival, transport, and regeneration. Their isolation and analysis from body fluids have a great clinical potential to provide information on a variety of disease states such as cancer, cardiovascular complications and inflammatory disorders. Despite increasing scientific and clinical interest in this field, there are still no standardized procedures available for the purification, detection, and characterization of EVs. Advances in microfluidics allow for chemical sampling with increasingly high spatial resolution and under precise manipulation down to single molecule level. In this review, our objective is to give a brief overview on the working principle and examples of the isolation and detection methods with the potential to be used for extracellular vesicles. This review will also highlight the integrated on-chip systems for isolation and characterization of EVs.

Keywords: Exosomes; Extracellular vesicles; Microchip; Microfluidics.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Cell Fractionation / instrumentation*
Cell Fractionation / methods
Equipment Design
Extracellular Vesicles* / chemistry
Extracellular Vesicles* / ultrastructure
Humans
Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / instrumentation*
Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / methods

Grants and funding

R01 AI118502/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States