Exosomes (small extracellular vesicles) in living organisms play an important role in processes such as cell proliferation or intercellular communication. Recently, exosomes have been extensively investigated for biomarker discoveries for various diseases. An important aspect of exosome analysis involves the development of enrichment methods that have been introduced for successful isolation of exosomes. These methods include ultracentrifugation, size exclusion chromatography, polyethylene glycol‐based precipitation, immunoaffinity‐based enrichment, ultrafiltration, and asymmetric flow field‐flow fractionation among others. To confirm the presence of exosomes, various characterization methods have been utilized such as Western blot analysis, atomic force microscopy, electron microscopy, optical methods, zeta potential, visual inspection, and mass spectrometry. Recent advances in high‐resolution separations, high‐performance mass spectrometry and comprehensive proteome databases have all contributed to the successful analysis of exosomes from patient samples. Herein we review various exosome enrichment methods, characterization methods, and recent trends of exosome investigations using mass spectrometry‐based approaches for biomarker discovery.

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N-glycans are biologically important oligosaccharides associated with the asparagine residue that may exist in protein-bound or unbound forms in all eukaryotes (including yeasts) and some bacteria. The-core structure of these oligosaccharides is based on the trimannosyl chitobiose structure resulting from cellular N-glycosylation. Preparative-scale amounts of these oligosaccharides are important for chemical, structural and functional studies due to their biological significance. Therefore, we explored a biochemical approach of oligosaccharide preparation using mutant-derived monoglucosylated lipid-linked oligosaccharides (LLOs) required for the assembly of N-linked glycoproteins and non-monoglucosylated free-oligosaccharides (fOSs) from misfolded N-linked glycoproteins using an N-glycosylation (alg) mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Oligosaccharide extracts of fOSs and LLOs from the alg8 S. cerevisiae mutant lacking the ALG8 gene were profiled using fluorescence-and evaporative light scattering-based HPLC. LLOs did not produce accumulated levels of the target mutant-related monoglucosylated (Glc 1 Man 9 GlcNAc 2) at 100 ml scale. However, it was possible to detect truncated oligomannose (paucimannose) structures in the fOSs of the alg8 mutant.

Conventional dried droplet (DD) methods show poor reproducibility in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) due to the frequent induction of a heterogeneous sample distribution. Recently, a forced dried droplet...

Rationale: Exosomes contain biomarkers such as proteins and lipids that help in understanding normal physiology and diseases. Lipids, in particular, are infrequently studied using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry (MS) for biomarker discovery. In this study, MALDI was equipped with a highresolution MS to investigate exosomal lipids from human serum.Methods: Exosomal lipids were profiled using MALDI with Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR)-MS. Four matrices (i.e., α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid[CHCA], 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid, sinapinic acid, and graphene oxide [GO]) and three sample preparation methods (i.e., dried droplet, thin layer, and two layer) were compared for the number of lipid species detected and the relative abundance of each lipid from human serum and human serum exosomes.Results: In sum, 172 and 89 lipid species were identified from human serum and human serum exosomes, respectively, using all the methods. The highest number of exosome lipid species, 69, was detected using the CHCA matrix, whereas only 8 exosome lipid species were identified using the GO matrix. Among the identified

The glycomic profiles of free oligosaccharides (fOS) derived from misfolded N-and O-linked glycoproteins and lipidlinked oligosaccharides are important molecular signatures in various biological processes and serve as a readout of functional properties such as glycosidase inhibition. Several glycan extraction methods are available based on different sorbent chemistries that may influence the analytical profiles obtained. However, there is limited availability of studies comparing the effects of sorbent chemistries on glycan profiles. Therefore, in our study, the fOS profiles from wild-type Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Baker's yeast) extracted using two common methods namely mixed-bed ion-exchange (MBIE) [AG50W-X12 (H +) and AG2-X8 (Cl-)] and reversed-phase (C18) sorbents were compared using total carbohydrate (phenol sulfuric acid) and total protein (bicinchoninic acid, BCA) assays, thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and highperformance liquid chromatography-evaporative light scattering detector (HPLC-ELSD) analyses. MBIE extraction contained higher oligosaccharide and protein (0.26 mg/mL and 1.8 mg/mL) content than C18 extraction (0.11 mg/mL and 0.2 mg/mL). TLC analysis (butanol: ethanol: water = 6:3:1 and 5:4:1) showed the presence of fOS in both the MBIE and C18 extracts based on the detection of orcinol active (UV-inactive) spots. Similar peaks were present in the HPLC-ELSD chromatograms for both extractions methods with MBIE showing higher abundance. Glycan unit (GU) analysis of the dextran standard using HPLC-ELSD showed that the largest possible oligosaccharide structures detected were only di/trisaccharides. Based on all these results, MBIE extraction is a more suitable carbohydrate extraction technique compared to C18 extraction for subsequent profiling and functional studies of fOS.