Fig 1: EV characteristics of mortality cohort. (A) EV morphology and size were visualized using electron microscopy (scale bar = 200 nm). (B) Plasma EVs from alive (n = 8) and individuals who had died (n = 8) within 5 years of sample collection were lysed and the EV markers CD81 and ALIX using quantified using ELISA assays. Individual data points are shown, and the bar represents the mean. There were no significant differences in CD81 and ALIX EV levels between alive and deceased individuals using Student’s t-test. (C) EV markers in plasma EVs were assessed using an Exo-Check™ Exosome Antibody Array. (D,E) Plasma EVs were isolated from participants who were alive or died within five years of sample donation (Table 1), and EV size distribution and concentration were analyzed by Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis. (D) Size distribution was averaged for each group (n = 75 for alive and n = 74 for died groups). EV concentration is shown in the plots in (E).