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Despite significant progress in the medical field, there is still a pressing need for minimal‐invasive tools to assist with decision‐making, especially in cases of polytrauma. Our team explored the potential of serum‐derived large extracellular vesicles, so called microparticles/microvesicles/ectosomes, to serve as a supportive tool in decision‐making in polytrauma situations. We focused on whether monocyte derived large EVs may differentiate between polytrauma patients with internal organ injury (ISS > 15) and those without. Thus, we compared our EV data to soluble biomarkers such as tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) and Interleukin‐8 (IL‐8). From the blood of 25 healthy and 26 patients with polytrauma large EVs were isolated, purified, and characterized. TNF alpha and IL‐8 levels were quantified. We found that levels of these monocyte derived large EVs were significantly higher in polytrauma patients with internal organ damage and correlated with the ISS. Interestingly, we also observed a decline in AnnV+CD14+ large EVs during normal recovery after trauma. Thus, inflammatory serological markers as TNF alpha and as IL‐8 demonstrated an inability to discriminate between polytrauma patients with or without internal organ damage, such as spleen, kidney, or liver lacerations/ruptures. However, TNF and IL‐8 levels were elevated in polytrauma cases overall when contrasted with healthy non‐traumatic controls. These findings suggest that delving deeper into the potential of AnnV+ large EVs derived from monocytes could highly beneficial in the managment of polytrauma, potentially surpassing the efficacy of commonly used serum markers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents the sixth most common cancer worldwide and the third most common cause of cancer-related death. One of the major problems faced by researchers and clinicians in this area is the lack of reliable disease biomarkers, which would allow for an earlier diagnosis, follow-up or prediction of treatment response, among others. In this regard, the "HCC circulome", defined as the pool of circulating molecules in the bloodstream derived from the primary tumor, represents an appealing target, the so called liquid biopsy. Such molecules encompass circulating tumor proteins, circulating tumor cells (CTCs), extracellular vesicles (EVs), tumor-educated platelets (TEPs), and circulating tumor nucleic acids, namely circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and circulating tumor RNA (ctRNA). In this article, we summarize recent findings highlighting the promising role of liquid biopsies as novel potential biomarkers in HCC, emphasizing on its clinical performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]