From laboratory to clinic: Translation of extracellular vesicle based cancer biomarkers

•We discuss the hurdles along the extracellular vesicle-based biomarker development.•We outline the solutions for translation of EV biomarkers to clinical application.•These principles allow translation of EV based biomarkers from the bench to the bedside. The past decade has witnessed a rapid growth in the field of extracellular vesicle (EV) based biomarkers for the diagnosis and monitoring of cancer. Several studies have reported novel EV based biomarkers, but the technical and clinical validation phase has been hampered by general challenges common to biomedical research field as well as specific challenges inherent to the nanoparticle field. This has led to more common failures than success stories in the biomarker discovery pipeline. As a result, more attention must be focused on the process of biomarker discovery, verification, and validation to allow for translation and application of novel EV based research to patient care. Herein, we briefly discuss the hurdles and potential solutions in EV biomarker discovery and verification and validation, and clinical translation.