Exosome detection via the ultrafast-isolation system: EXODUS

• Published in: Nature methods Vol. 18; no. 2; pp. 212 - 218
• Main Authors: Chen, Yuchao, Zhu, Qingfu, Cheng, Liming, Wang, Yong, Li, Meng, Yang, Qinsi, Hu, Liang, Lou, Doudou, Li, Jiaoyuan, Dong, Xianjun, Lee, Luke P., Liu, Fei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Nature Publishing Group US 01.02.2021; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/1647/2230; 631/61/350/877; 631/80/313/1481; Automation; Bioinformatics; Biological Microscopy; Biological Techniques; Biomarkers; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedical Engineering/Biotechnology; Biophysics; Cell organelles; Computer engineering; Exosomes; Harmonic oscillators; High-Throughput Screening Assays - methods; Hospitals; Humans; Identification and classification; Life Sciences; Low speed; Membrane separation; Membranes; Methods; Oscillators; Polyethylene glycol; Pressure oscillations; Proteins; Proteomics; Purification; Purity; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; RNA - isolation & purification; Simulation; Transverse waves; Ultrafiltration; Urine; Work stations; China
• ISSN: 1548-7091; 1548-7105; 1548-7105
• DOI: 10.1038/s41592-020-01034-x

Exosomes have shown great potential in disease diagnostics and therapeutics. However, current isolation approaches are burdensome and suffer from low speed, yield and purity, limiting basic research and clinical applications. Here, we describe an efficient exosome detection method via the ultrafast-isolation system (EXODUS) that allows automated label-free purification of exosomes from varied biofluids. We obtained the ultra-efficient purification of exosomes by negative pressure oscillation and double coupled harmonic oscillator–enabled membrane vibration. Our two coupled oscillators generate dual-frequency transverse waves on the membranes, enabling EXODUS to outperform other isolation techniques in speed, purity and yield. We demonstrated EXODUS by purifying exosomes from urine samples of 113 patients and validated the practical relevance in exosomal RNA profiling with the high-resolution capability and high-throughput analysis. EXODUS is a high-speed isolation method for the enrichment of exosome from biological fluids with high purity and yield.