Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42080521›Full record

ReviewAnnals of medicine2026

Beyond spherical vesicles: morphological diversity of extracellular vesicles in health and disease.

Manuel Adrián Velázquez-Cervantes, Nora Alma Fierro, Ricardo Lozano-Hernández, Julio César Carrero

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Annals of medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Manuel Adrián Velázquez-CervantesImmunology Department, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México City, México.
Nora Alma FierroImmunology Department, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México City, México.
Ricardo Lozano-HernándezLab Medical Center, Unidad Andrológica y de Reproducción, San Cristóbal, Edo Táchira, Venezuela.
Julio César CarreroImmunology Department, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México City, México.ORCID 0000-0003-1055-5774

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe field of extracellular vesicles (EVs) has advanced considerably in recent years with new findings stemming from technical improvements in their isolation and characterization, expanding their potential as tools in vaccines, drug delivery, and timely diagnosis using biomarkers. Consequently, a new area of interest has recently gained prominence: the study of changes in EV morphology and their potential involvement in diseases. DISCUSSION: Using cryo-TEM analysis, a technique that helps preserve the near-natural state of EVs, multiple morphological and structural variants have been demonstrated in isolates from bodily fluids, cell cultures, and cell lines of mammals, as well as some protozoa and plants. In addition to the classic sphere with a lipid bilayer and hyaline content, pleomorphic, tubular and sac-like EVs, with double, multilayered or lamellar membranes, and in some cases, with electrodense content, have been described. Furthermore, several studies have found alterations in the morphological pattern and/or proportions of these morphological variants in diseases associated with cellular or metabolic dysfunction such as Parkinson's and diabetes, as well as in infectious diseases such as Zika virus and prions. Here, we review the key findings that have propelled the field, provide a catalog of the EVs variants identified to date, discuss mechanisms underlying their formation and their potential biological implication in the course of various pathologies, and identify key challenges that need to be addressed.

conclusionThe information analyzed demonstrate that EVs are highly variable structures, not only in their content but also in their morphology, and that this variation could be related to cellular, metabolic, and infectious pathologies. This underscore the need to understand the origin, regulation, and function of each morphological type of EVs, which could lead to their possible use as diagnostic or therapeutic tools in the future.

Indexed as

Extracellular VesiclesAnimalsBiomarkersCryoelectron MicroscopyHumansBiomarkersCryo-TEMEV biogenesisExtracellular vesicles (EVs)infectious and non-infectious diseasesmorphology variation

Identifiers

PMID42080521
PMCPMC13142187

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.