Isolation and characterization of circulating exosomes from blood in brain tumors

Exosomes (EXs) are crucial in mediating intercellular communication in physiological and pathological conditions. Accordingly, tumor-secreted EXs play an important role in regulating tumor malignancy. Tumor-derived exosomes contain proteins, mRNAs, and miRNAs, which can be delivered between different types of cells and even transferred to distant locations to influence the biological activities of tumors, such as proliferation, invasion and metastasis (1). Clinically, tumor-derived EXs may represent a target for therapeutic intervention and for the development of early diagnostic biomarkers (2). In our laboratory, we have focused on the isolation, morphological analyses, determination of par…