[Efficient capture and proteomics analysis of urinary extracellular vesicles by affinity purification]

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry
• Oncology
• Nanotechnology

Context:

• Liquid biopsy offers a minimally invasive alternative to traditional tissue biopsies for cancer diagnosis.
• Urinary extracellular vesicles (EVs) are valuable sources of cancer biomarkers due to their protective lipid bilayer.
• Current prostate cancer (PCa) screening methods like PSA testing and DRE lack specificity, leading to unnecessary biopsies.

Purpose:

• To develop an efficient method for isolating extracellular vesicles (EVs) from urine for prostate cancer biomarker discovery.
• To validate the performance of the developed EV isolation method, EVlent, against traditional ultracentrifugation.
• To identify potential protein biomarkers for prostate cancer using proteomics on EVlent-isolated urinary EVs.

Summary:

• Functional magnetic beads, termed EVlent, were developed for selective enrichment of urinary EVs, outperforming ultracentrifugation in efficiency and purity.
• Proteomic analysis of urinary EVs from PCa patients and healthy volunteers identified differentially expressed proteins.
• Four proteins (PLAU, PDGFA, MMP3, NRAS) were identified within the prostate cancer pathway, indicating their potential as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers.

Impact:

• EVlent provides a robust platform for efficient isolation and proteomics analysis of urinary EVs.
• This study offers valuable insights into urinary EV biomarkers for prostate cancer.
• The identified proteins may lead to improved diagnostic and prognostic tools for prostate cancer.