Extracellular Vesicles as Biomarkers of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Table 1

Key features of extracellular vesicles.

EV types	Size	Biogenesis	Markers	Contents
Exosomes	30–100 nm	Endolysosomal pathway. Released by exocytosis of multivesicular bodies	Tetraspanins (CD63, CD9, and CD81), Alix, and TSG101	miRNAs and mRNA; lipids, DNA membrane proteins and lipids, cytokine receptors, and MHC molecules
Microvesicles/microparticles	100–1000 nm	Cell surface. Outward budding of plasma membrane	Integrins, selectins, and CD40 ligand	mRNA, noncoding RNAs, membrane proteins, receptors, and cytoplasmic proteins
Apoptotic bodies	Up to 5000 nm	Cell surface. Released from cellular blebs during apoptosis	Phosphatidyl-serine	Nuclear fractions, cell organelles, DNA, rRNA, and mRNA

EV: extracellular vesicles, MHC: major histocompatibility complex, mRNA: messenger RNA, miRNA: microRNA, rRNA: ribosomal RNA, and TSG101: tumor susceptibility gene 101.