Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 18, 2026
Author Spotlight: Advancing EVtrap for High-Throughput Proteomics in Disease Biomarker Discovery
Published on: October 27, 2023
Phosphatidylserine-positive extracellular vesicles for detecting multiple operable cancers
Fangfang Jin1, Ping Yang2, Rui Xu2
1Department of Clinical Laboratory, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital Clinical College, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, School of Life Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210023, China; School of Medicine, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine Prevention and Treatment of Tumour, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210023, China.
A new blood test detects phosphatidylserine (PS)-positive extracellular vesicles (EVs), offering a promising tool for early cancer detection. This method shows high accuracy across multiple cancer types, aiding timely treatment.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Biomarker Discovery
- Translational Medicine
Background:
- Early cancer detection significantly reduces mortality rates.
- Circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs) show diagnostic promise, but tumor-specific biomarkers and detection methods are needed.
- Phosphatidylserine (PS) was investigated as a potential tumor-specific EV marker.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify tumor-specific biomarkers on circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs).
- To develop and validate a blood test for early cancer detection using identified biomarkers.
- To assess the diagnostic performance of the developed test across various cancer types and stages.
Main Methods:
- Lipidomics analysis of EVs from cancer and non-tumorigenic cell lines.
- Identification of phosphatidylserine (PS) as a tumor-specific EV marker.
- Development of a flow cytometry-based blood test (PSEV-MultiCancer) for detecting PS-positive EVs.
- Clinical validation in a large cohort of cancer patients and healthy individuals.
Main Results:
- Phosphatidylserine (PS) was identified as a specific marker on tumor-derived EVs.
- The PSEV-MultiCancer test achieved an AUC of 0.932 in detecting 12 cancer types across 1,869 clinical samples.
- The test demonstrated 84.7% positive detection rate, with 74.7% sensitivity for early-stage cancers (I-II) and 89.8% specificity.
- Independent cohort validation confirmed high diagnostic performance (AUCs of 0.97, 0.99, and 0.89).
Conclusions:
- PSEV-MultiCancer is a promising noninvasive blood test for early cancer detection.
- The test utilizes PS-positive EVs as a reliable tumor biomarker.
- This approach can facilitate timely diagnosis and curative interventions for cancer patients.
