Use of antibody arrays to probe exosome and extracellular vesicle mediated functional changes in cells

Exosomes are small (30-200nm) membrane-bound vesicles released by all cells. They have been found in many clinical sample types, particularly those that are obtained in minimally-invasive fashion, including serum/plasma, urine, cerebrospinal and other fluids. They serve as an ideal source of biomarkers as their contents reflect the cell of origin and disease status of patients. Exosomes can serve as a "liquid biopsy," a non-invasive means to assess disease/health status in real-time. They can provide insights into disease mechanisms as they carry and transfer important signaling molecules, which may induce changes in the recipient cells. This is particularly relevant for metastatic cancers, as exosomes can prime the pre-metastatic niche. Many different approaches can be used to characterize the effects of the transfer of exosome content into the recipient cells, including global, untargeted approaches and protein-specific, targeted approaches. We describe herein our studies on the use of antibody arrays to probe for protein expression changes in hepatocytes that result from treating these cells with exosomes derived from uveal melanoma cells.