In Vivo Tracking of Tumor-Derived Bioluminescent Extracellular Vesicles in Mice

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nano-membrane vesicles containing exosomes and microvesicles, and are released by almost all types of cells. They can carry lipids, proteins, mRNAs, and miRNAs to enable intercellular communication between cells either locally or distantly without direct cell-to-cell contact. Cancer-derived EVs are known to facilitate tumor progression and metastasis by preparing premetastatic niches. Here, we define a strategy to label cancer derived EVs with Renilla luciferase for noninvasive bioluminescence imaging (BLI) and monitoring of intravenously administered EVs in vivo.