Co-isolation of extracellular vesicles and high-density lipoproteins using density gradient ultracentrifugation

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) facilitate intercellular communication by carrying bioactive molecules such as proteins, messenger RNA, and micro (mi)RNAs. Recently, high-density lipoproteins (HDL) isolated from human plasma were also reported to transport miRNA to other cells. HDL, when isolated from human plasma, ranges in density between 1.063 and 1.21 g/mL, which grossly overlap with the reported density of EVs. Consequently, HDL and EV will be co-isolated when using density gradient ultracentrifugation. Thus, more stringent isolation/separation procedures of EV and HDL are essential to know their relative contribution to the pool of circulating bioactive molecules.