Streamlined Digital Microfluidics-Mass Spectrometry Strategy for Extracellular Vesicle Enrichment and Lipid Profiling

In the intricate machinery of the human body, cells continuously exchange massive amounts of information. To communicate, they utilize micro- and nano-sized "courier packages" known as Extracellular Vesicles (EVs, which include exosomes). These vesicles encapsulate proteins and nucleic acids, while their lipid bilayer shells are rich in critical biological information that plays a pivotal role in immune regulation and tumor progression. However, due to their extremely small size (30 to 150 nanometers), capturing them using traditional ultracentrifugation requires substantial sample volumes, consumes excessive time, and often compromises vesicle bioactivity. This has created a longstanding paradox in the industry: balancing the need for "large sample volumes" against the reality of "obtaining rare, trace-level samples."