Table 2.
Exosomes from distinct biofluids of cancer patients as biomarkers
| Exosomal cargos | Cancer types | Methods | Clinical value | Biofluids | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CD34 | Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) | Immunoaffinity capture | Higher levels of CD34+ exosomes in AML patients | Plasma | [117] |
| EDIL-3/Del1 | Bladder cancer | Western blot | Elevated expression in patients with high-grade bladder cancer | Urine | [118] |
| miR-101, 372, 373 | Breast cancer | qRT-PCR | Highly expressed in breast cancer patients and elevated miR-373 expression in receptor-negative breast cancer patients | Serum | [119] |
| miR-21, 146a | Cervical cancer | qRT-PCR | Elevated expression in exosomes from cervical cancer patients than healthy controls and HPV(+) subjects | Cervicovaginal lavages | [120] |
| Let-7a, miR-1229, 1246, 150, 21, 223, 23a | Colon cancer | qRT-PCR | Highly expressed in exosomes from colon cancer patients | Serum | [121] |
| CD147, CD9 | Colon cancer | Exoscreen | Higher levels of CD147/CD9 double-positive extracellular vesicles in cancer patients than healthy controls | Serum | [122] |
| miR-17-92a cluster | Colon cancer | qRT-PCR | Elevated expression in cancer patients and higher levels predict poorer prognoses | Serum | [123] |
| miR-21 | Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) | qRT-PCR | Exosomal levels of miR-21 are significantly higher in patients with ESCC than those with benign diseases | Serum | [80] |
| LINC00152 | Gastric cancer | qRT-PCR | Elevated expression levels in gastric cancer patients than healthy controls | Plasma | [83] |
| EGFRvIII (mRNA) | Glioblastoma | Nested RT-PCR | Mutated EGFRvIII could be detected in exosomes from 7 of 25 glioblastoma patients but not that from 30 healthy subjects | Serum | [75] |
| miR-718 | Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) | qRT-PCR | Decreased expression of miR-718 in exosomes from HCC cases with recurrence after liver transplantation compared with those without recurrence | Serum | [124] |
| miR-21 | Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) | qRT-PCR | Higher exosomal levels in patients with HCC than those with hepatitis or healthy controls | Serum | [125] |
| miR-17-3p, 21, 106a, 146, 155, 191, 192, 203, 205, 210, 212, 214 | Lung cancer | miRNA array | Total exosome and miRNA levels are upregulated in lung cancer patients and these 12 miRNAs could be detected in exosomes | Plasma | [76] |
| LRG1 | Lung cancer | Western blot | Patients with non-small cell lung cancer have an increased LRG1 expression in exosomes compared to healthy controls | Urine | [126] |
| TYRP2, VLA-4, Hsp70, MET | Melanoma | Western blot, multiplex protein analysis | The levels of these 4 proteins are increased in exosomes from stage III and IV patients compared to stage I patients as well as healthy controls | Plasma | [39] |
| CD63, caveolin-1 | Melanoma | In-house sandwich ELISA (Exotest) | Melanoma patients have more CD63- and caveolin-1-positive exosomes compared to healthy controls | Plasma | [127] |
| Galectin-9 | Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) | Western blot | Exosomes from NPC patients but not that from healthy controls contain galectin-9 | Serum | [128] |
| Claudin-4 | Ovarian cancer | Western blot | Claudin-4 could be detected in exosomes from 32 of 63 ovarian cancer patients but only 1 of 50 healthy controls | Plasma | [129] |
| miR-21, 141, 200a, 200b, 200c, 203, 205, 214 | Ovarian cancer | miRNA array | The levels of these 8 miRNAs are elevated in exosomes from ovarian cancer patients compared to healthy controls and benign tumors | Serum | [72] |
| miR-1246, 4644, 3976, 4306 | Pancreatic cancer | qRT-PCR | Upregulated expression in pancreatic cancer patients compared to healthy controls | Serum | [130] |
| PTEN | Prostate cancer | Western blot | PTEN is exclusively expressed in exosomes of prostate cancer patients compared to healthy controls | Plasma | [131] |
| Survivin | Prostate cancer | Western blot, ELISA | Prostate cancer patients have more survivin-positive exosomes compared to healthy controls as well as patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia | Plasma | [132] |
| PSA, PSMA | Prostate cancer | Western blot | Detected in 20 of 24 exosomes from prostate cancer patients but not in healthy controls | Urine | [133] |
| miR-1290, miR-375 | Prostate cancer | qRT-PCR | Highly expressed in castration-resistant prostate cancer patients and their levels are significantly associated with poor overall survival | Plasma | [134] |
| LncRNA-p21 | Prostate cancer | qRT-PCR | Higher level of exosomal lncRNA-p21 in patients with prostate cancer than those with benign hyperplasia | Plasma | [135] |