Abstract: PO1075
A Survey of Current Trends in Urinary Extracellular Vesicle Research
Session Information
- Educational Research
November 04, 2021 | Location: On-Demand, Virtual Only
Abstract Time: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Category: Fluid, Electrolyte, and Acid-Base Disorders
- 902 Fluid, Electrolyte, and Acid-Base Disorders: Clinical
Authors
- Erdbruegger, Uta, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States
- Martens-Uzunova, Elena S., Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
- Llorente, Alicia, Oslo Universitetssykehus, Oslo, Norway
- Musante, Luca, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States
- Blijdorp, Charles J., Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
- Burger, Dylan, Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Background
The Urine Task Force of the International Society of Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) was created to advocate for best practices in this emerging area of research. Here we present the results of a survey, conducted using SurveyMonkey by the Urine Task Force, to better understand current research practices in the study of urinary extracellular vesicles (uEVs).
Methods
Two separate, identical surveys were administered: one directed to Urine Task Force members (28 respondents at the time of reporting) and one directed to the ISEV community (42 respondents).
Results
The mean time studying uEVs was 7.8 years for task force members and 5.4 years for community respondents. For task force members: 48.3% of respondents primarily focus on kidney, 44.8% prostate and 6.9% bladder. For the community focus was 29.4% kidney, 21.5% prostate, 19.6% bladder and 29.4% “other”. Both communities largely collect spot urines compared with timed collection (Task force: 78.6% spot vs 21.4% timed, Community: 75.8% spot vs 24.2% timed).
Urine storage was a significant focus of the survey. For the Task Force: 92.9% of respondents studied samples stored >3 months, 57.1% samples stored <3 months, and 50% studied fresh samples. The community studied less often fresh samples. Both groups predominantly stored samples as “cell-free urine”: 85.7% for task force and 65.6% for community. All task force respondents study samples frozen at -80 °C with 10.7% of respondents also studying samples stored at 4 °C. By contrast, 93.8% -of community respondents stored samples at 80 °C, 9.4% at -20 °C and 6.3% at 4 °C.
The task force ranked the following isolation methods in order of priority 1) centrifugation, 2) size exclusion chromatography, and 3) filtration. For the community survey this was similar. Both surveys prioritized the same downstream applications: 1) protein analysis, 2) RNA analysis, 3) functional assays. The urine task force identified “understanding of approaches to normalization” while the community identified “Impact of renal disease and comorbidities on EV analysis” as key knowledge gaps.
Conclusion
In summary, the present survey identified key similarities and differences between current practices for the Urine Task Force and the urinary EV research community. Such information will be used to help guide future efforts to address key knowledge gaps.