The definition of exosome and extracellular vesicles (EV)

Membrane trafficking by exosomes has been the subject of intense investigation due to their diagnostic and therapeutic potential. However, although exosomes have been referred to by most authors as extracellular vesicles of endosomal origin, there are no extracellular vesicle-specific markers that can distinguish exosomes from other vesicle types. Moreover, the material isolated from different fluids such as cell culture conditioned media or plasma, generally contains a mixture of different vesicle subtypes. In this short article, we describe how the definition of the terms extracellular vesicles and exosomes varies in the literature, therefore prompting the need for a standardization of the terminology used to describe these membrane tracking particles. Such harmonization will ultimately help define the potential importance of specific vesicles as markers for various disease states. Keywords: Extracellular vesicles, exosomes, definition