Flow analysis of individual blood extracellular vesicles in acute coronary syndrome

Abstract

A diverse population of small extracellular vesicles (EVs) that are released by various cells has been characterized predominantly in bulk, a procedure whereby the individual characteristics of EVs are lost. Here, we used a new nanotechnology-based flow cytometric analysis to characterize the antigenic composition of individual EVs in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Plasma EVs were captured with 15-nm magnetic nanoparticles coupled to antibodies against CD31 (predominantly an endothelial marker), CD41a (a marker for platelets), and CD63 or MHC class I (common EV markers). The total amounts of EVs were higher in the ACS patients than in the controls, predominantly due to the contribution of patients with acute myocardial infarction. For all captured fractions, the differences in the EV amounts were restricted to CD41a⁺ EVs. The increase in the numbers of EVs in the ACS patients, predominantly of platelet origin, probably reflects platelet activation and may indicate disease progression.

Keywords:

• Acute coronary syndrome
• acute myocardial infarction
• extracellular vesicles
• flowcytometry
• platelets

Abbreviations:

• AMI
• acute myocardial infarction
• MNP
• magnetic nanoparticle
• PPP
• platelet poor plasma
• UA
• unstable angina.

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Barry Alpher for assistance in editing and improving the English style. AA, and LB work was supported by the NICHD intramural program,JCG was supported by NICHD intramural Program and Sidra Medical and Research center, Qatar. EV, AL, MV, and AS work was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation grant #14.B25.31.0016.

Declaration of interest

The authors declare having no conflict of interest.

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at www.tandfonline.com/iplt