We present a technology for the multiscale isolation (analytical-laboratory-production) of Extracellular Vesicles (VE), which overcomes the limitations of the currently available methods. As opposed to traditional "affinity-based" systems that exploit antibodies, our technology represents a radical paradigm shift in the development of affinity probes for vesicles, i.e. the use of peptides sensitive to the curvature of biological membranes (membrane sensing peptides - MSP- ) for the specific and at the same time universal capture (not dependent on surface markers) of all small EVs (50-200nm). MSPs can be produced synthetically, in a scalable way and at low cost, and offer great versatility of integration on analytical supports or purification of different nature.
Traditional affinity methods for the isolation of EVs are generally based on the use of antibodies to proteins present on their membrane. However, these markers are not uniformly expressed in the various subpopulations of EVs. As such, they allow a partial and not fully representative recovery of the EVs present in a sample. The technology based on MSPs proposed by us transcends this problem, being the affinity directed towards universal characteristics of the small vesicles (charge and membrane curvature). This determines a high yield and universally representative capture, as well as allowing the isolation of VE of plant and animal species indifferently. The synthetic aspects and prospective scale-up towards the isolation of VE on a large scale are also totally peculiar to these ligands, since antibodies have no application in this sector due to the high costs.
PCT