Table 1.

Comparison of optimal body fluids for single EV analysis in liquid biopsy

Biofluid	Advantages	Disadvantages	Applications	References
Plasma	high EV concentration rich in tEVs widely used clinically	high background of lipoproteins/proteins co-isolation of contaminants hemolysis may affect results	cancer diagnostics, biomarker discovery, monitoring treatment	61
Urine	non-invasive low protein background	low EV concentration diluted samples variable EV content depending on hydration	urological cancers	62
Saliva	non-invasive easy sampling reflects oral and systemic conditions	low EV concentration high bacterial content contamination with mucins, high viscosity challenges EV isolation	oral cancers	63
CSF	high relevance for CNS diseases	invasive collection low volume available	brain tumors	64
Pleural/Ascitic Fluids	abundance of tEVs relevant for metastatic cancers	invasive patient-specific variability	ovarian, lung, and gastrointestinal cancers	65