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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 May 6.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Med. 2012 Jun;18(6):883–891. doi: 10.1038/nm.2753

Figure 1. Analysis of protein expression in circulating exosomes from melanoma subjects.

Figure 1

(a) Representative electron microscopic image of exosomes derived from the plasma of a melanoma subject. Scale bar, 100 nm. (b) Kaplan-Meier survival curve showing cumulative probabilities in Stage IV subjects over 42 months of follow-up according to total protein (micrograms) in isolated circulating exosomes per milliliter of plasma analyzed (n = 15). P values were calculated using a log-rank test. (c) Representative Western blot of TYRP2, VLA-4, HSP70, HSP90 and HSC70 proteins in circulating exosomes isolated from the plasma of melanoma subjects (Stages I, III and IV) and healthy controls. Arrow indicates a specific HSP90 isoform found in 70% of melanoma subjects. GAPDH was used as a loading control. (d) Statistical analysis of western blot densitometry of signature proteins in circulating exosomes relative to GAPDH. Controls (n = 9); stage I (n = 2); stage III (n = 7); stage IV (n = 18). P values were calculated by ANOVA. (e) Statistical analysis of western blot densitometry for TYRP2 expression in circulating exosomes relative to GAPDH in a retrospective series of frozen plasma derived from stage III melanoma subjects (n = 29) who had been followed for 4 years to evaluate disease progression (NED = no evidence of disease, POD = progression of disease), (n = 29); P < 0.001 using Mann-Whitney U test.