Extracellular vesicles: A potential new way to assess cholestasis

Abstract

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small, nonreplicating, lipid-encapsulated nanoparticles that carry protein and nucleic acid cargo derived from their tissue of origin. Due to their capacity to provide comparable insights to solid organ biopsy through a minimally invasive collection procedure, EVs provide an attractive biomarker source. This review will provide an insight, how EVs in circulation may provide a novel way to assess cholestasis and will address the possibility of getting a better understanding of the mechanisms of cholestasis of pregnancy through the use of serial hepatic-specific EVs as a window.