Extracellular vesicles (EVs) can facilitate essential
communication among cells in a range of pathophysiological conditions
including cancer metastasis and progression, immune regulation, and
neuronal communication. EVs are membrane-enclosed vesicles generated
through endocytic origin and contain many cellular components, including
proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and metabolites. Over the past few
years, the intravesicular content of EVs has proven to be a valuable
biomarker for disease diagnostics, involving cancer, cardiovascular
diseases, and central nervous system diseases. This review aims to
provide insight into EV biogenesis, composition, function, and isolation,
present a comprehensive overview of emerging techniques for EV cargo
analysis, highlighting their major technical features and limitations,
and summarize the potential role of EV cargos as biomarkers in disease
diagnostics. Further, progress and remaining challenges will be discussed
for clinical diagnostic outlooks.