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Updated: Mar 30, 2026
Author Spotlight: Advancing the Analysis of Plasma Extracellular Vesicle Proteome for Cardiovascular Biomarker Studies
Published on: January 31, 2025
The diagnostic and prognostic potential of plasma extracellular vesicles for cardiovascular disease
Ingrid E M Bank1,2, Leo Timmers2,3,4, Crystel M Gijsberts1,2
1a Laboratory of Experimental Cardiology , University Medical Center Utrecht , Utrecht , the Netherlands.
Insights
Plasma extracellular vesicles (EVs) show promise as blood-based biomarkers for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Improved EV isolation techniques are crucial for their clinical application in diagnosing and predicting CVD.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical research
- Cardiovascular science
- Extracellular vesicle biology
Background:
- Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading global cause of mortality, with atherosclerosis as its underlying pathology.
- Acute CVD events like heart attacks and strokes necessitate early diagnosis and treatment.
- Plasma extracellular vesicles (EVs), involved in hemostasis and inflammation, are increasingly recognized in CVD.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the current applications of EVs in cardiovascular disease research.
- To highlight the potential of plasma EVs as novel blood-based biomarkers for CVD diagnosis and prognosis.
- To discuss the need for advanced EV isolation technologies for clinical translation.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on extracellular vesicles and cardiovascular disease.
- Analysis of the association between EV counts/content and CVD.
- Discussion of technological requirements for plasma EV isolation and characterization.
Main Results:
- EV counts and content are linked to cardiovascular disease.
- Plasma EVs represent a promising source for developing blood-based CVD biomarkers.
- Current EV isolation methods require further development for clinical utility.
Conclusions:
- Extracellular vesicles hold significant potential for improving CVD diagnosis and prognosis.
- Development of robust and user-friendly isolation technologies for plasma EV subsets is essential.
- Advancing EV isolation techniques will facilitate the clinical application of EVs in patient care.
Abstract:
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide and its prevalence is expected to rise rapidly worldwide in the coming decades. Atherosclerosis, the syndrome underlying CVD, is a chronic progressive disease of the arteries already present at a young age. Strokes, heart attacks and heart failure are acute CVD events that occur after decades, however, and require timely diagnosis and treatment. Plasma extracellular vesicles (EVs) are microstructures with a lipid bilayer membrane involved in hemostasis, inflammation and injury. Both EV-counts and EV-content are associated with CVD and the identification of plasma EVs is a novel source of blood-based biomarkers with the potential to improve diagnosis and prognosis of CVD. Presented in this review is an overview of the current use of EVs in CVD and a discussion of the need for robust and easy isolation technologies for plasma EV subsets. This is needed to bring this promising field towards clinical application in the patient.
