From biogenesis to aptasensors: advancements in analysis for tumor-derived extracellular vesicles research

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are enclosed by a nanoscale phospholipid bilayer membrane and typically range in size from 30 to 200 nm. They contain a high concentration of specific proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids, reflecting but not identical to the composition of the parent cell. The inherent characteristics and variety of EVs give them extensive and unique advantages in the field of cancer identification and treatment. Recently, EVs have been recognized as potential tumor markers for the detection of cancer. Aptamers, which are molecules of single-stranded DNA or RNA, demonstrate remarkable specificity and affinity for their targets by adopting distinct tertiary structures. Aptamers offer various advantages over their protein counterparts, such as reduced immunogenicity, the ability for convenient large-scale synthesis, and straightforward chemical modification. In this review, we summarized EVs biogenesis, sample collection, isolation, storage and characterization, and finally provided a comprehensive survey of analysis techniques for EVs detection that are based on aptamers.