Table 1.

General characteristics of extracellular vesicles.

	Exosomes	Microvesicles	Apoptotic Bodies
Origin	Endolysosomal pathway; intra-luminal budding of MVB and fusion of MVB with cell membrane	Cell surface; outward budding of cell membrane	Cell surface; outward blebbing of apoptotic cell membrane
Size	40–120 nm	50–1,000 nm	500–2,000 nm
Function	Intercellular communication	Intercellular communication	Facilitate phagocytosis
Markers	Alix, Tsg101, tetraspanins (CD81, CD63, CD9), Flotillin, ESCRT components, annexins	Integrins, selectins, CD40	Annexin V, phosphatidylserine
Contents	Nucleic acids (mRNA, miRNA, other non-coding RNAs), cytoplasmic and membrane proteins including receptors and MHC molecules, lipidraft	Nucleic acids (mRNA, miRNA, other non-coding RNAs), cytoplasmic and membrane proteins including receptors, lipidraft	Nuclear fractions, cell organelles

MVB, multivesicular bodies; ESCRT, endosomal sorting complex required for transport; MHC, major histocompatibility complex (91).