Surface Glycan Profiling of Extracellular Vesicles by Lectin Microarray and Glycoengineering for Control of Cellular Interactions.

backgroundExtracellular vesicles (EVs) are a group of cell-derived membrane vesicles that carry a variety of cargo such as protein, nucleic acids, and lipids, and are secreted by almost all cell types. Functionally, EVs play important roles in physiological and pathological processes such as immune responses and tumor growth through intercellular communication by transferring this molecular information between cells. Therefore, they have potential versatile clinical applications as disease biomarkers and drug delivery carriers. PROBLEM: Notably, subpopulations of EVs exhibit distinct characteristics depending on their cell of origin, including the expression of surface glycans, which have been implicated in a variety of cellular processes such as field cancerization, cell recognition, and signal transduction. However, these are features have not been fully exploited because of the difficulty in analyzing these proteins. APPROACH: In this paper, we summarize the advancements in glycoengineering and high-performance lectin microarray for high-throughput analysis of EV glycans to generate an index of heterogeneity to identify disease biomarkers, and describe how understanding the function of EVs in disease can enhance their potential application in the clinic.