Rapid and efficient isolation of exosomes by clustering and scattering

Tumor-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) have become important biomarkers of liquid biopsies for precision medicine. However, the clinical application of EVs has been limited due to the lack of EV isolation practical technology applicable to clinical environments. Here, we report an innovative EV isolation method, which is quick and simple, and facilitates high-yield and high-purity EV isolation from blood. Introducing a cationic polymer in plasma resulted in rapid clustering of anionic EVs and a chaotropic agent can separate EVs from these clusters. Isolated EVs were characterized in terms of size distribution, morphology, surface protein markers, and exosomal RNA. Through performance comparison with various methods, including ultracentrifugation (UC), the present method delivered the highest recovery rate (~20 folds that of UC) and purity ratio (3.5 folds that of UC) of EVs in a short period of time (<20 min). The proposed method is expected to be used in basic and applied research on EV isolation and in clinical applications.