Exosomes are 40-200 nm sized vesicles that are shed from every type of cell into an extracellular environment. Recently exosomes have attracted interest due to their potential as cancer biomarkers because they transport molecular contents of the cells from which they originate. Their detection and molecular profiling is technically challenging especially due to their small sizes and environment from which they are found. Here, we report a novel method for exosome detection and protein profiling using Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) nanotags in combination with a miniaturized capture platform. A gold-coated glass slide is functionalized with antibodies to enable capture and profiling of exosome surface proteins. We report that exosome derived from breast cancer can be identified by their expression of EpCAM and HER2 biomarkers. This method offers a simple, rapid, highly sensitive Raman based assay for point of care detection and molecular profiling of exosome capable of differentiating different subtypes of cancer cells and able to differentiate cancer cells from normal cells in less than two hours. This next-generation Raman exosome assay has the potential to revolutionize exosome research and realize a novel cancer liquid biopsy approach for cancer research and early detection.

Molecular detection and analysis of exosomes using surface-enhanced Raman scattering gold nanorods and a miniaturized device

256th National Meeting (2018)

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