Low-density lipoprotein mimics blood plasma-derived exosomes and microvesicles during isolation and detection

Circulating extracellular vesicles have emerged as potential new biomarkers in a wide variety of diseases. Despite the increasing interest, their isolation and purification from body fluids remains challenging. Here we studied human pre-prandial and 4 hours postprandial platelet-free blood plasma samples as well as human platelet concentrates. Using flow cytometry, we found that the majority of circulating particles within the size range of extracellular vesicles lacked common vesicular markers. We identified most of these particles as lipoproteins (predominantly low-density lipoprotein, LDL) which mimicked the characteristics of extracellular vesicles and also co-purified with them. Based on biophysical…

• SE
  Semmelweis Egyetem
• HS
  Hungarian Scientific Research Fund

  Awards: PD112085, PD 109051
• MT
  Magyar Tudományos Akadémia
• AP
  Astellas Pharma
• MP
  MedInProt Protein Science Research Synergy Program
• FP
  FP7 People: Marie-Curie Actions

  Awards: FP7-PEOPLE-2011-ITN, PITN-GA-2011-289033, 289033