Fig. 1

Characterisation and quantification of sEVs from diseased and healthy donors. A Increased sEV release from DHBEs. B Example of DHBE-derived particle distribution curve from NTA. C Mean particle size of sEVs released from NHBEs and DHBEs. D Example TEM image of sEVs after isolation. Magnification× 50,000. E Western blot of common proteins expressed by sEVs (positive control) and proteins not expressed by sEVs (negative control-GM130) confirming minimal contamination within preparations. Blots have been cropped to relevant lanes and protein size. F, G ExoELISA quantification showing higher abundance of CD63 and CD81 in DHBE-derived sEV preparations/wells. H Example imaging for uptake of DHBE-derived sEVs by NHBEs over 24 h using exo-RNA glow (green) and hoechst (blue) probe. I Z-stack image showing uptake of sEVs into cells. J Quantification of exo-RNA uptake by responder cells shows increased uptake over time and maximal uptake occurs between 24 and 30 h. N = 4–6. Each dot represents a different donor; A–D isolated by ultracentrifugation, all other experiments by ExoQuick as detailed in methodology. Note, due to the low yields of sEVs each assay was run with an individual sEV preparation. Significant differences between groups shown *p < 0.05, Mann–Whitney test