Exosome Research Tools

Comprehensive Toolset

• ExoQuick Isolation
• Exo-FBS media
• Antibodies and ELISAs
• Exo-RNA Purification
• Exo-RNA Next-Gen Sequencing

Why are exosomes important?

Once thought to be little more than a way for cells to offload waste, the past decade has seen a huge shift in the way we think about exosomes. We’ve begun to recognize that exosomes are deliberately released from the cell, functioning as signal carriers and tissue reshapers through their cargo of RNA, proteins, lipids, and DNA. Involved in a wide range of healthy and pathogenic processes such as cancer, inflammation, immunity, CNS function, cardiac cell function, to name a few-exosomes are being studied for their role in these basic biological processes as well as for their use as biomarkers (see Applications) and even as tools for targeted delivery of biomolecules such as therapeutics (see Engineering).

What are exosomes?

Exosomes are 60 – 180 nm membrane vesicles secreted by most cell types in vivo and in vitro. These extracellular vesicles are endocytic in origin, produced by the inward budding of multivesicular bodies (MVBs). They are released from the cell into the microenvironment following fusion of MVBs with the plasma membrane.

What aren’t exosomes?

Exosomes are not the only small, membrane-bound extracellular vesicle that can be found. They are distinct in origin from apoptotic blebs or apoptotic bodies, which are 50 nm to 5 um in size, carry DNA, RNA, and histones, and display surface markers targeting them for clearance by macrophages. And they are also different from microparticles (also known as microvesicles, ectosomes, shedding vesicles, microparticles, plasma membrane-derived vesicles, and exovesicles), which can range from 50-1000 nm in size and are derived directly from the plasma membrane rather than endocytic bodies within the cell.8 These distinctions and labeling conventions are not always used consistently in the literature and between different groups, leading to some ambiguity in the literature. When isolating exosomes, it’s important to remember that these other types of vesicles may also be present and interpret results accordingly.

What else are exosomes called?

Adding to the confusion, exosomes are sometimes referred to by the source of the sample material. For example, dendritic cell exosomes are also called dexosomes, and cancer cell exosomes may be called oncosomes. Researchers are starting to move towards more standardized nomenclature, but those searching through older literature should be aware of other names for exosomes.

Where are exosomes normally found?

Exosomes have been found in blood, urine, amniotic fluid, breast milk, malignant ascites fluids, and seminal fluid. They contain distinct subsets of molecules depending upon the cell type from which they are secreted, making them useful for biomarker discovery.

How do I study exosomes?

SBI is the only vendor to offer reagents and kits that support all apsects of exosome research-covering isolation, detection and measurement, discovery (characterization and analysis), and even exosome engineering. With a comprehensive set of tools and services to accelerate the study of exosomes and exosome RNA biomarkers, SBI puts the power of exosomes into researchers’ hands.

SBI’s Exosome Research Technologies