Detection And Characterisation Of Extracellular Vesicles In Exhaled Breath Condensate And Sputum Of Copd And Severe Asthma Patients

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), nano-sized (20–1000 nm) membranous structures released from cells, play critical roles in both physiological and pathological processes [1]. EVs can be classified based on their size into small (sEVs 200 nm EVs, also known as microvesicles) [1]. EVs might be a target for personalised medicine, given their content and biological origin [2]. Indeed, EVs detected in various biological fluids, including sputum supernatants, mucus, epithelial lining fluid, the pulmonary circulation and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, represent a unique tool for both investigating the pathophysiology of respiratory disease and for biomarker discovery [2, 3].\n\nFootnotes \n\nThis manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the European Respiratory Journal . It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJ online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article.\n\nConflict of interest: Dr. Lucchetti has nothing to disclose.\n\nConflict of interest: Dr. Santini has nothing to disclose.\n\nConflict of interest: Dr. Perelli has nothing to disclose.\n\nConflict of interest: Dr. Ricciardi-Tenore has nothing to disclose.\n\nConflict of interest: Dr. Colella has nothing to disclose.\n\nConflict of interest: Dr. Mores has nothing to disclose.\n\nConflict of interest: Dr. Macis has nothing to disclose.\n\nConflict of interest: Dr. Bush has nothing to disclose.\n\nConflict of interest: Dr. Sgambato has nothing to disclose.\n\nConflict of interest: Dr. Montuschi has nothing to disclose.