Extracellular Vesicles Fractionated in Drying Droplet

We propose a new chromatograph using “coffee-ring effect” and Marangoni recirculation flow in microdroplets to separate extracellular vesicles spatially based on particle size. In this study, EVs were isolated spatially based on particle size in the evaporating droplet. We then find that the size of EVs is correlated with expression levels of certain tetraspanin proteins and confirmed that the possibility of this method can be used for diagnosis. Using this method, we reveal that the level of tetraspanin protein expression depends on the size of the EVs and we find that in the plasma of prostate cancer patients smaller EVs show higher expression of cancer-associated proteins and gene.