Extracellular Vesicles from Different Mesenchymal Stem Cell Types Exhibit Distinctive Surface Protein Profiling and Molecular Characteristics: A Comparative Analysis

The current medical need to respond to different diseases has sparked great interest in extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) due to their great regenerative potential and as drug carriers by playing a critical role in cell-cell communication. However, due to their heterogeneity, there is no standardized universal method for their identification and characterization, which limits their clinical application. This study, following the recommendations and methodologies proposed by MISEV2023 for the characterization of EVs, shows for the first time a detailed morphological, protein, and biochemical comparison between EVs derived from three different MSCs sources (placenta, endometrium, and dental pulp). The information obtained from the different applied assays suggests that there are substantial differences between one EVs source and another. It also offers valuable insights that provide the guidelines to ease their profiling and therefore improve their selection, in order to speed up their use and clinical application; additionally, the knowledge obtained from each characterization test could facilitate new researchers in the field to choose a specific cell source to obtain EVs and select the appropriate methods that provide the necessary information according to their requirements.