Proteomic analysis of exosome-like vesicles derived from breast cancer cells.

Background/Aim: The phenomenon of membrane vesicle-release by neoplastic cells is a growing field of interest in cancer research, due to their potential role in carrying a large array of tumor antigens when secreted into the extracellular medium. In particular, experimental evidence show that at least some of the tumor markers detected in the blood circulation of mammary carcinoma patients are carried by membrane-bound vesicles. Thus, biomarker research in breast cancer can gain great benefits from vesicle characterization. Materials and Methods: Conditioned medium was collected from serum starved MDA-MB-231 sub-confluent cell cultures and exosome-like vesicles (ELVs) were isolated by ultra…