Fig. 1
Characterization of plasma heavy-smoking individual-derived EVs. A) Concentration and size distribution of plasma-derived EVs from subjects with a low (MSCneg-EVs) or high (MSCpos-EVs) risk of lung cancer using nanoparticle tracking analysis (n = 5 per group). B) Representative TEM images showing the spherical morphology and size distribution of plasma-derived EVs (red arrows). C) Western blot (left panel) and flow cytometric (right panel) analysis of conventional EV markers on MSCpos- and MSCneg-EVs showing the presence of Alix and the CD63, CD81, and CD9 tetraspanins (n = 3 per group). D) Profiles of plasma-derived EVs for immune (left), epithelial and endothelial (centre) cell surface markers determined by flow cytometry. Fibroblasts and PMN markers detected on plasma-EVs (right). The values are the median fluorescence intensities (n = 5 per group). E) Absolute quantification of 24 miRNAs in EVs from individuals with different levels of lung cancer risk by dPCR (n = 5 per group). F) Flow cytometric analysis of the percentage of PKH26+ cells after treatment with PKH26-labeled MSCpos- and MSCneg-EVs (1 µg) (n = 5 per group). *p < 0.05 versus epithelial cells. The data are expressed as the mean ± S.E.M. values