Hello! I recently got comments back on PhD thesis, where I looked at the role of a known oncogene in the biogenesis of small EVs/exosomes in breast cancer.

This was one of the comments I received:

'Exosome is a term used to refer RNA complex. Exosomes (plural) is what the vesicles refer to. Though this confusion prevails in the field, it is better to stick with the wording exosomes throughout the thesis.'

Here are my issues with this comment:

• It was my understanding the the 'RNA complex' type of exosome was usually called an 'exosome complex' or even more specifically an 'RNA exosome complex.' Moreover, within any given piece of literature, it would be made very clear that the author is talking about the RNA complex type of exosome and not the extracellular vesicle exosome (i.e. due to context and background/introduction).
• There must be a way to refer to a singular 'EV' exosome, as using the term exosomes is not always gramaticaly correct.
• Finally, as the reviewer said, using exosome in the singular prevails in the field, so is it not therefore the correct language to use?

I'd really like to get some clarification on this from experts in the field! I've tried searching the internet for any other discussion of this, but have yet to come across any. If you agree or disagree with this I'd really love to know, and if you have any links to where this has been discussed before I'd love to see it.

I have only been in the exosome/EV field for a few years so perhaps this is a stupid question, but I would really appreciate your thoughts!

Thank you!