Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanoparticles delineated by a lipid-double layer and deposited by almost all cells in their extracellular environment, and EVs can thus also be found in plasma and urine. We developed a novel strategy to enrich EVs from complex media for further proteomic analyses. EV enrichment with 300-kDa MWCO filters (FAEVEr) is distinguished from other techniques by its speed, reproducibility, possibility of parallelisation and low cost. By also incorporating the mild detergent TWEEN-20 during EV washing steps, the interfering non-EV proteins are removed, allowing many more EV proteins to be identified.

In this project, we aim to further develop FAEVEr to enable clinically relevant applications for detecting cancer-specific biomarkers on and in EVs with the aim of developing diagnostic tests later.