Fig. 1

Plasma exosomes characterization and relationship between exosomal HMGB1 and clinical response to radiation. A Transmission electron micrograph of HP-Exos and ESCC-Exos. B The size distribution and the concentration of the exosomes were measured with Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis. C Western blotting of exosomes and cell lysate proteins was performed to confirm exosome marker proteins (CD9, CD81, TSG101) and calnexin. D The expression level of HMGB1 in plasma exosomes of ESCC was higher than that of HP. E The expression level of exosomal HMGB1 in plasma correlates with ESCC radiotherapy’s efficacy. F Response to radiotherapy with different expression levels of exosomal HMGB1. Patients with high exosomal HMGB1 expression showed lower response rate to radiation (P = 0.005). G The diagnostic power of plasma exosomal HMGB1 levels for the clinical response to radiation in patients with ESCC. The AUROC of plasma exosomal HMGB1 for clinical response to radiation was 0.80 (95% CI 0.6105–0.9895, P = 0.0201). *P < 0.05; HMGB1: high mobility group box 1; ESCC: esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; HP: healthy people; Exos: exosomes