Table 1.

Extravesicles subtype characteristics

	Exosomes	Microvesicles	Apoptotic bodies
Origin	Endocytic origin	Plasma membrane budding	Blebbing
Size	30–200 nm	100–1000 nm	> 1000 nm
Density	1.13–1.19 g/ml	1.04–1.07 g/ml	1.16–1.28 g/ml
Shape	Spheroid	Irregular	Variable
Composition	Proteins, nucleic acids, lipids and metabolites	Proteins, nucleic acids, lipids and metabolites	DNA fragments and histone, chromatin remnants, cytosol portions, degraded proteins
Typical constituent proteins	Tetraspanins, ESCRT proteins (Alix, TSG101), integrins, heat shock proteins	Integrins, selectins, CD40 ligand, flotillin-2, adenosine diphosphate ribosylation factor 6, phosphatidylserine	Annexin V, phosphatidylserine
Function	Cell–cell communication	Cell–cell communication	Product of programmed cell death. Facilitate clearance of apoptotic cells
References	[21, 25, 28, 185, 186]	[5, 21, 22, 25, 185, 186]	[21, 23–26]