MIBlood-EV (ISEV)

MIBlood-EV: Minimal Information to Enhance the Quality and Reproducibility of Blood Extracellular Vesicle Research

Blood is the most commonly used body fluid for extracellular vesicle (EV) research. The composition of a blood sample and its derivatives (i.e., plasma and serum) are not only donor-dependent but also influenced by collection and preparation protocols. Since there are hundreds of pre-analytical protocols and over forty variables, the development of standard operating procedures for EV research is very challenging. To improve the reproducibility of blood EV research, the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) Blood EV Task Force proposes standardized reporting of (i) the applied blood collection and preparation protocol and (ii) the composition of the prepared plasma and serum samples. Gathering detailed information provides insight into the performance of the protocols and in the presence of confounders in the prepared plasma and serum samples. To collect this information, the ISEV Blood EV Task Force created the Minimal Information for Blood EV research (MIBlood-EV), a tool to record and report information about pre-analytical protocols used for plasma and serum preparation as well as assays used to assess the quality of these preparations. This tool can be easily implemented in existing databases allowing for future meta-analysis and followed by evidence-based optimization of pre-analytical protocols. Taken together, insight into the quality of prepared plasma and serum samples will (i) improve the quality of biobanks for EV research, (ii) allow the exchange of plasma and serum samples between biobanks and laboratories, (iii) facilitate comparative EV studies, (iv) improve the peer review process, and, finally (v) does not require modifications of local pre-analytical protocols.

The MIBlood-EV v1.0 includes 27 items the following components: i) General study information (items 1.0 – 1.9), ii) Blood collection and processing (items 2.0 – 2.23), and iii) Plasma/serum quality control (QC; items 3.0 – 3.27).
The MIBlood-EV will be accessible on the ISEV website under Rigor & Standardization Subcommittee/Position Papers & Guidelines alongside the MIFlowCyt-EV [[https://www.isev.org/rigor-standardization]]
The original version (v1.0) is an editable pdf document that can be attached as Supplementary Material in manuscripts and referred to in sections of the Materials and Methods that describe blood specimens and characteristics. In addition, researchers are invited to upload the MIBlood-EV in the dedicated figshare data repository (Link). The file name should be as follows: First Author Last Name_First Author First Name_Year of Publication.