Combined mass quantitation and phenotyping of intact extracellular vesicles by a microarray platform

• Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have a great potential for liquid biopsy development.
• Isolation and characterization of EVs present unique challenges due to their small size, low refractive index, and polydispersity.
• We propose, for the first time, the use of a Si/SiO2 interferometric platform for multiparameter intact EVs analysis combining EVs mass quantitation and phenotyping.
• Successful fluorescence detection of EVs from plasma samples opens the way to the use of the platform in diagnostic applications.

The interest towards extracellular vesicles (EVs) has grown exponentially over the last few years; being involved in intercellular communication and serving as reservoirs for biomarkers for tumors, they have a great potential for liquid biopsy development, possibly replacing many costly and invasive tissue biopsies.Here we propose, for the first time, the use of a Si/SiO2 interferometric, microarray platform for multiparametric intact EVs analysis combining label-free EVs mass quantitation and high sensitivity fluorescence based phenotyping. Label free interferometric measurement allows to quantify the amount of vesicles captured by printed antibodies while, on the same chip, EVs are also detected by fluorescence in a sandwich immunoassay. The proposed method simultaneously detects, quantify and phenotype intact EVs in a microarray format.

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