Extracellular vesicles (EVs) harbor a rich glycome—diverse sugar modifications—that mediates and reflects disease progression. Despite its clinical potential, the analysis of EV glycans remains challenging due to limitations of current glycomics technologies. Here, we develop a dedicated analytical platform to directly profile EV glycans in native biofluids. Termed integrated magnetic analysis of glycans in extracellular vesicles (iMAGE), the platform utilizes rationally designed polycore magnetic nanoparticles to transduce EV-bound glycans, but not that of free-floating glycoproteins, into magnetic signals; the resultant signals are readily quantified through a built-in magnetoresistance sensor. The iMAGE assay is thus fast (<30 min), sensitive (<10⁴ EVs), and wash-free. Through multiplexed measurements of EV glycans in native clinical specimens, the technology not only revealed disease signatures against complex biological background but also differentiated patient prognosis. As a majority of current clinical biomarkers are glycosylated, the technology could expand their applications for EV-based noninvasive diagnostics and prognostics.

细胞外囊泡（EV）含有丰富的糖原-多样的糖修饰-介导并反映疾病的进展。尽管具有临床潜力，但由于当前糖组学技术的局限性，EV聚糖的分析仍然具有挑战性。在这里，我们开发了一个专用的分析平台来直接分析天然生物流体中的EV聚糖。该平台被称为细胞外囊泡中的聚糖的整合磁性分析（iMAGE），利用合理设计的多核磁性纳米颗粒将EV结合的聚糖而非自由浮动的糖蛋白转化为磁性信号。通过内置的磁阻传感器可以很容易地量化得到的信号。因此，iMAGE分析快速（<30分钟），灵敏（<10 ⁴电动汽车），并且免洗。通过对天然临床样本中EV聚糖的多重测量，该技术不仅揭示了针对复杂生物学背景的疾病特征，而且还区分了患者的预后。由于当前大多数临床生物标志物都被糖基化，因此该技术可以将其应用扩展到基于EV的无创诊断和预后研究中。