This protocol describes a procedure to isolate small extracellular vesicles from macrophages by differential ultracentrifugation and extract the peptidome for identification by mass spectrometry.
Small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) are typically secreted by the exocytosis of multivesicular bodies (MVBs). These nanovesicles with a diameter of <200 nm are present in various body fluids. These sEVs regulate various biological processes such as gene transcription and translation, cell proliferation and survival, immunity and inflammation through their cargos, such as proteins, DNA, RNA, and metabolites. Currently, various techniques have been developed for sEVs isolation. Among them, the ultracentrifugation-based method is considered the gold standard and is widely used for sEVs isolation. The peptides are naturally biomacromolecules with less than 50 amino acids in length. These peptides participate in a variety of biological processes with biological activity, such as hormones, neurotransmitters, and cell growth factors. The peptidome is intended to systematically analyze endogenous peptides in specific biological samples by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Here, we introduced a protocol to isolate sEVs by differential ultracentrifugation and extracted peptidome for identification by LC-MS/MS. This method identified hundreds of sEVs-derived peptides from bone marrow-derived macrophages.
Small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) with a diameter of less than 200 nm are present in almost all types of body fluids and secreted by all kinds of cells, including urine, sweat, tears, cerebrospinal fluid, and amniotic fluid1. Initially, sEVs were considered as receptacles for disposing of cellular waste, which led to minimal research in the subsequent decade2. Recently, increasing evidence indicates that sEVs contain specific proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and other metabolites. These molecules are transported to target cells3, contributing to intercellular communication, through which they participate in various biological processes, such as tissue repair, angiogenesis, immunity4 and inflammation5,6, tumor development and metastasis7,8,9, etc.
To facilitate the study of sEVs, it is imperative to isolate sEVs from complex samples. Different sEVs isolation methods have been developed based on the physical and chemical properties of sEVs, such as their density, particle size, and surface marker proteins. These techniques include ultracentrifugation-based methods, particle size-based methods, immunoaffinity capture-based methods, sEVs precipitation-based methods, and microfluidics-based methods10,11,12. Among these techniques, the ultracentrifugation-based method is widely recognized as the gold standard for sEVs isolation and is the most commonly used technique13.
An increasing amount of evidence suggests the presence of a multitude of undiscovered biologically active peptides in the peptidomes of various organisms. These peptides significantly contribute to numerous physiological processes by regulating growth, development, stress response14,15, and signal transduction16. The objective of sEVs' peptidome is to uncover the peptides carried by these sEVs and provide clues to their biological functions. Here, we present a protocol of isolating sEVs through differential ultracentrifugation, followed by extraction of peptides from these sEVs for further analysis of their peptidome.
1. Isolation of small extracellular vesicles
NOTE: Perform all centrifugation in steps 1.1-1.11 at 4 °C.
2. Observation of morphology of sEVs by transmission electron microscopy
3. Measurements of particle size distribution and concentration of sEVs by nanoparticle tracking analysis
4. Detection of protein markers of sEVs by western blot
NOTE: According to the Minimal information for studies of extracellular vesicles (MISEV) 2018 guidelines17,18, 5 categories of proteins are recommended for the characterization of sEVs. Evaluate at least one protein marker of each category 1 to 4 for sEVs preparation.
5. Extraction of sEVs' peptides
6. Drying the desalted peptides
7. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis
NOTE: Analyze the peptides' sample by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), specifically the Orbitrap Q Exactive HF-X mass spectrometer connected with an EASY-nLC 1000 nano-high-performance LC system (see Table of Materials).
For the sEVs isolated by differential ultracentrifugation (Figure 1), we evaluated their morphology, particle size distribution, and protein markers according to the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV)17.
First, the morphology of sEVs was observed by TEM, showing a typical cup-like structure (Figure 2A). NTA showed that isolated sEVs were mostly concentrated at 136 nm (Figure 2B), which was consistent with the reported size (30-150 nm)1. Finally, the sEVs' protein markers were identified by western blot. The results showed that isolated sEVs were significantly enriched of sEVs' markers, including CD9, β-actin, and TSG101. The endoplasmic reticulum marker, GRP94, was only detected in the whole cell lysate (Figure 2C). These results indicated that the methods employed resulted in a high level of purity for the isolated sEVs.
Figure 1: Schematic representation of isolating sEVs by differential ultracentrifugation. Carry out all centrifugations at 4 °C. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Figure 2: Characterization of iBMDM-derived sEVs. (A) Isolated sEVs observed by transmission electron microscopy. Scale bar: 200 nm. (B) Particle size of the isolated sEVs by nanoparticle tracking analysis. (C) Identification of the sEVs and non- sEVs markers of sEVs by western blot. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
When investigating the function of sEVs, it is imperative to attain high-purity sEVs from complex biological samples to avoid any potential contaminations. A variety of methods for sEVs isolation have been developed13, and among these methods, differential ultracentrifugation-based methods have shown relatively high purity of sEVs. In this study, 200 mL of cell supernatant was collected for 6 h, and about 200-300 µg of sEVs were obtained by differential ultracentrifugation. However, it should be noted that the sEVs pellet may not be visible during ultracentrifugation (step 1.8). Therefore, it is recommended to pipette the tubes’ bottom as much as possible. This step is critical and will directly affect the yield of sEVs. Additionally, further optimization of the protocol is required to improve yield, such as extending the centrifugation time or cell supernatant collection period when sEVs are precipitated at 110,000 × g (steps 1.8 and 1.9). Although the sEVs isolated by differential ultracentrifugation have high purity, it also takes a long time.
With advancements in modern mass spectrometry technology and genetic databases, tens of thousands of peptides have been identified in various organisms’ tissues and body fluids, differing significantly in source, abundance, and biological function20. LC-MS/MS-based peptidomes provide a comprehensive approach to investigating the sEVs peptidome’s composition, dynamic change, and function. However, the low abundance of peptides in sEVs makes identifying sEVs peptidome unstable. Additionally, peptide extraction must be performed on ice to avoid protein degradation interfering with peptide identification. In this study, 2-4 µg of peptides required nearly 1 mg of sEVs for peptidome analysis. This requires a larger sample size than sEVs’ proteomics. At the same time, due to the extremely low peptide concentration in sEVs, more attention should be paid to plastic pollution than proteomics. Whether it is cell culture or reagent preparation, use mass spectrometry-grade consumables as much as possible. Therefore, more optimized peptide extraction methods are needed to increase the number of identified peptides in sEVs. Additionally, the peptidome database is not complete, which limits the progress of sEVs peptidome research.
Currently, most studies on sEVs focus on the proteins and microRNAs they carry, with little known about their peptide components4,21,22. This article provides a straightforward and easy-to-follow protocol for the study of sEVs’ peptides to further unravel sEVs’ biological function from the perspective of peptidome.
The authors have nothing to disclose.
This study was supported by grants from the Natural Science Foundation of China (3157270). We thank Dr. Feng Shao (National Institute of Biological Sciences, China) for providing iBMDM.
BCA Protein Assay Kit | Beyotime Technology | P0012 | |
CD9 | Beyotime Technology | AF1192 | |
Centrifugal filter tube | Millipore | UFC5010BK | |
Centrifuge bottles polypropylene | Beckman Coulter | 357003 | High-speed centrifuge |
Chemiluminescent substrate | Thermo Fisher Scientific | 34580 | |
Dithiothreitol | Solarbio | D8220 | 100 g |
DMEM culture medium | Cell World | N?A | |
GRP94 | Cell Signaling Technology | 20292 | |
High-speed centrifuge | Beckman Coulter | Avanti JXN-26 | Centrifuge rotor (JA-25.50) |
Immortalized bone marrow-derived macrophages (iBMDM) | National Institute of Biological Sciences, China | Provided by Dr. Feng Shao (National Institute of Biological Sciences, China) | |
Iodoacetamide | Sigma | l1149 | 5 g |
Microfuge tube polypropylene | Beckman Coulter | 357448 | 1.5 mL, Tabletop ultracentrifuge |
nano-high-performance LC system | Thermo Fisher Scientific | EASY-nLC 1000 | |
Nanoparticle tracking analysis | Malvern Panalytical | NanoSight LM10 | NanoSight NTA3.4 |
Orbitrap Q Exactive HF-X mass spectrometer | Thermo Fisher Scientific | N/A | |
Phosphate-buffered saline | Solarbio | P1020 | |
Polyallomer centrifuge tubes | Beckman Coulter | 326823 | Ultracentrifuge |
Protease inhibitor | Bimake | B14002 | |
SpeedVac vacuum concentrator | Eppendorf | Concentrator plus | |
Tabletop ultracentrifuge | Beckman Coulter | Optima MAX-XP | Ultracentrifuge rotor (TLA 55) |
Transmission electron microscope | HITACHI | H-7650B | |
TSG101 | Sigma | AF8258 | |
Ultracentrifuge | Beckman Coulter | Optima XPN-100 | Ultracentrifuge rotor (SW32 Ti) |
Ultrasonic cell disruptor | Scientz | SCIENTZ-IID | |
Western Blot imager | Bio-Rad | ChemiDocXRs | Image lab 4.0 (beta 7) |
β-actin | Sigma | A3853 |