Recent Advances in Bio-Sensing Methods for the Detection of Tumor Exosomes

Exosomes, small vesicles with the diameters of 40-160 nm, play an important role in intercellular transport and communication. Exosomes are rich in many kinds of biomolecules, and differential expression of exosomal contents directly reflects the state of the original cells. Therefore, the tumor exosomes are appearing as promising biomarkers in liquid biopsy, and highly sensitive and specific detection of tumor exosomes may provide the information for the early diagnosis, real-time monitoring and treatment of the tumors. In this review, we summarized the recent advances in the detection of tumor exosomes, mainly focusing on the use of different analytical techniques, such as optical and electrochemical methods as well as that combination with newly-emerging microfluidic techniques, thereby providing valuable information for the application in the clinical diagnosis and management of the tumors.