Highly sensitive urinary exosome detection enables improved liquid biopsy diagnostics

Researchers from Hanyang University, Seoul have developed a new method to isolate and enrich exosomes from human urine, improving the ability to detect important biomarkers for disease. Exosomes are tiny vesicles released by cells that carry molecular information, and analyzing them in urine can provide a noninvasive way to monitor health or detect disease.

Traditional methods of isolating exosomes from urine often struggle to recover enough intact vesicles, especially from large volumes of diluted samples. To address this, the team designed Biologically Intact Exosome Separation Technology (BEST), a microfluidics-based approach that uses carefully controlled fluid forces to separate small exosomes (around 100 nm) from larger particles such as apoptotic bodies (around 8 μm).

The researchers showed that BEST could isolate urinary exosomes with 72.4% purity at an optimal suction flow rate. By concentrating these vesicles, detection sensitivity for molecular analyses like PCR and Western blotting increased nearly fivefold, making it easier to identify disease-related biomarkers that might otherwise be missed.

This technology demonstrates the potential of urinary exosomes as a noninvasive liquid biopsy tool. With improved isolation and enrichment methods, clinicians may soon be able to detect diseases earlier and monitor treatment responses more effectively, all through a simple urine sample.