Porphyrin micro-nano assemblies for capture and isolation of extracellular vesicles

Polyethyleneimine (PEI) modified 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-(hydroxyl)phenyl)porphyrin (THPP) assemblies with different morphologies are prepared via an evaporation-induced self-assembly method. The obtained THPP/PEI assemblies have positive surface potentials under physiological conditions. Therefore, THPP/PEI assemblies can capture extracellular vesicles (EVs) from MCF-7 cells via electrostatic interaction. Furthermore, THPP/PEI assemblies can also isolate EVs in size according to their different morphologies. The EV capture efficiency of THPP/PEI assembly is much high than those of inorganic ZnO-based nanowire arrays, although both rely on electrostatic attraction to capture EVs. Using the THPP/PEI assemblies, we demonstrated that the expression level of CD147 of EVs derived from the urine samples of colon cancer patients was 4.3-fold higher than that from the urine samples of healthy donors with a p-value less than 0.01. It is expected that the new THPP/PEI assemblies in this work has potential to be applied to liquid biopsy technology because of their portability and cost effectiveness.