Extracellular vesicles such as prostate cancer cell fragments as a fluid biopsy for prostate cancer

Extracellular vesicles (evs) are cell-derived vesicles generated through a process of cell membrane shedding or storage vesicle release, as occurs during apoptosis, necrosis or exocytosis. initially perceived as cellular by-products or ‘dust’ of insignificant biological importance, recent research has shed light on the role of evs as mediators of intercellular communication, blood coagulation and disease progression. the prostate is a source of evs and their abundance in complex biological fluids such as plasma, serum and urine make them compelling entities for a ‘fluid biopsy’. as such, prostate cancer cell fragments (pccf) are evs generated by the tumor resident within the prostate and are also present in blood, expressing a portion of biomarkers representative of the primary tumor. high-throughput analytical techniques to determine biomarker expression on evs is the last hurdle towards translating the full potential of prostate evs for clinical use. we describe current state-of-the-art methods for the analysis of prostate-derived evs in patient fluids such as plasma and the challenges that lie ahead in this emerging field of translational research.