Skip to main content

Table 1 Major subtypes of EVs and their representative features

From: Extracellular vesicles in the tumor microenvironment: old stories, but new tales

EV subtype

Subcellular origin

Regular diameter

Sedimentation force

Biogenetic mechanisms

Exosomes

Multivesicular bodies (MVBs)/ endosomes

30–120 nm

100,000 g

Rab proteins (i.e. Rab7, Rab11, Rab27A/B, Rab35), NSMase, ESCRTs, syndecan, syntenin, ATG12, tetraspanins

Microvesicles (MVs)/ectosomes /microparticles

Plasma membrane

100–1000 nm

10,000 g

ASMase, flippase, flippase and scramblase (TMEM16F), ARF6

Apoptotic bodies (ABs)

Apoptotic blebs

0.8–5.0 μm

2000 g

Annexin V, Caspase 3

  1. Characterization of EV subtypes is based on recent scientific advances in EV biology [7, 124, 134, 135]