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Loh. Extracell Vesicles Circ Nucleic Acids 2020;1:1-2 Extracellular Vesicles and
DOI: 10.20517/evcna.2020.03 Circulating Nucleic Acids

Editorial Open Access

Welcome to the journal of Extracellular Vesicles
and Circulating Nucleic Acids: a new open-access

scientific journal

Y. Peng Loh

American Biochemist and Molecular Biologist, Bethesda, MD, USA.

Correspondence to: Dr. Y. Peng Loh, American Biochemist and Molecular Biologist, Bethesda, MD, USA.
E-mail: oaepub2019@yahoo.com
How to cite this article: Loh YP. Welcome to the journal of Extracellular Vesicles and Circulating Nucleic Acids: a new open-access
scientific journal. Extracell Vesicles Circ Nucleic Acids 2020;1:1-2. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/evcna.2020.03
Received: 14 Dec 2020 Accepted: 14 Dec 2020 Available online: 22 Dec 2020

Academic Editor: Y. Peng Loh Copy Editor: Whitney Xu Production Editor: Jing Yu

A wealth of research has emerged over the last five years showing the importance of extracellular vesicles
(EVs) as mediators of intercellular communication. EVs range in size from 30 to 400 nm and according
to the size have been classified as microvesicles, exosomes, and oncosomes. EVs are released from cells
in normal and pathological conditions, into many body fluids such as blood, urine, saliva, cerebral spinal
fluid, and milk. EV contents, which include RNA, proteins, and lipids, reflect the state of the cell of origin,
such as during metabolic changes and disease. Therefore, EVs have emerged as potential biomarkers.
Furthermore, stem cell EVs have now been found to be important in different types of tissue repair. EVs
have also been useful for delivery of siRNA, proteins, and other molecules for therapeutic use, and clinical
applications of EVs are emerging. At the same time, studies to better understand the cellular mechanism
of EV biosynthesis, trafficking, uptake, and release of EV cargoes in cells have facilitated the production,
loading, and purification of EVs for therapy.

Besides EVs, cells release nucleic acids into the circulation and other body fluids, and they are potential
biomarkers for disease. Cell-free (cf) DNAs have been used for example to monitor tumor progression
and heart transplant rejection, while cf-RNA, especially miRNAs, which are highly stable, are useful
biomarkers in cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. To facilitate multi-omics analysis of cell-free nucleic
acid biomarkers, new techniques such as electrokinetic chip devices and microfluidic systems have been
developed to isolate cf-DNA and exosomes from body fluids, respectively. Liquid biopsy employing
circulating exosomes and cf-nucleic acids is a non-invasive and safe alternative to tissue biopsy to monitor
disease progression and directing therapy.

© The Author(s) 2020. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license,
and indicate if changes were made.

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