Redefining Tissue Crosstalk via Shotgun Proteomic Analyses of Plasma Extracellular Vesicles

Protein signaling between tissues, or tissue cross-talk is becoming recognized as a fundamental biological process that is incompletely understood. Shotgun proteomic analyses of tissues and plasma to explore this concept are regularly challenged by high dynamic range of protein abundance, which limits the identification of lower abundance proteins. In this viewpoint article, it is highlighted how a focus on proteins contained within extracellular vesicles (EVs) not only partially addresses this issue, but can also reveal an underappreciated complexity of the circulating proteome in various physiological and pathological contexts. Furthermore, how quantitative proteomics can inform EV mediated crosstalk is highlighted and the importance of high coverage, sensitive proteomic analyses of EVs to identify both the optimal methods to isolate EV subtypes of interest and proteins that characterize them is stressed.