Microfluidic strategies for label-free exosomes isolation and analysis

Exosomes are nanoscale membrane vesicles (similar to 30-150 nm) actively released by most types of cells, which has great potential for non-invasive disease diagnostics. Current isolation techniques such as ultracentrifugation face a number of drawbacks including low integrity, low purity and long processing times. This represents an interesting challenge for microfluidic technologies, from integrity perspective as well as for enhanced purity capabilities, point-of-care acquisition and diagnosis. In this review, we highlight the label-free microfluidic advances for isolation and analysis of exosomes based on their size, deformability and electrical characteristics. These new capabilities are expected to advance fundamental research while paving the way for routine exosome-based personalized medicine. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.