Figure 2.

Origin and composition of urinary extracellular vesicles (uEVs). uEVs are generally considered to originate from several parts of the urogenital tract, including the kidneys, bladder, prostate in males and utero-vaginal tract in females. Urine can also contain a small quantity of EVs derived from other organs, epithelial cells, bacteria, yeast and viruses. uEVs carry proteins, nucleic acids, lipids and metabolites, and uEVs originating from cell lining nephron lumen contain marker proteins of nephron segments.