Table 2 Biofluids/biospecimens used to isolate extracellular vesicles for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and epidemiology

Ascites

Used in diagnosing ovarian cancer and determining its aggressiveness

[39]

Blood and plasma

Used in diagnosing ovarian cancer and breast cancer

[89,93]

Breast milk

Exosomes were isolated from breast milk

[36]

Mesenchymal stem cells

Suppression of angiogenesis shown in tumor cells mediated by miR-16 isolated from exosomes

[5]

Pregnancy-associated sera

Exosomes were isolated in different stages of pregnancy

[107]

Saliva

Exosomes and MVs found in patient saliva

[104]

Stem cells

Renal stem cells contained MVs with angiogenesis-specific mRNAs and miRNAs

[94]

Tissues

Ovarian cancer tissues were used to isolate exosomes and then in isolating miRNAs from them

[1,14]

Urine

Urine was used to isolate exosomes and in analyzing proteins by MS or transcriptome analysis

[58,99]