Table 2.

Overview the characteristics of the described exosome isolation methods

Methods	Working principle	Advantages	Disadvantages	Ref.
UC	Differential centrifugationbased on density	Reduced protein contamination High purity	Low yield, difficult to separate particles of similar size, expensive equipment support	[99–101]
Density gradient	Based on density additional steps after centrifugation	High purity	Low yield, time-consuming	[102]
SEC	Based on hydrodynamic radius	Good reproducibility, rapid and mild Reduced protein contamination	Low sample recovery	[103, 104]
Filtration	Based on molecular mass and size	Simple and time-saving	Potential to alter structural integrity, low sample recovery	[105, 106]
Immunoaffinity	Antibody capture	High selectivity and purity, no need for additional equipment support	High cost, nonspecific binding	[107]
Commercial kits	Precipitation with chemicals	High yield	High protein contamination	[53, 58]
AF4	Laminar flow	Classification of EV subtypes, efficiently	Low sample recovery and repeatability	[108]
Nano-FCM	High-resolution flow cytometry	High-fidelity sorting	Simultaneous detection of multiple EVs, expensive equipment support	[109]
Microfluidics	Based on physical or mechanical characteristics	Low sample volumes, rapid and high purity	Not suitable for large sample processing, expensive equipment support	[110]

UC ultracentrifugation, SEC size-exclusion chromatography, AF4 asymmetric flow field-flow fractionation, FCM flow cytometry