Extracellular Mitochondrial Components for Detecting Inflammatory Reactions and Conditions

A method for assessing the presence of an inflammatory mediator in a biological sample, said method comprising:

• a) obtaining the biological sample susceptible of having extracellular submicrometer-sized biological components;
• b) substantially enriching extracellular submicrometer-sized components from the biological sample to obtain an enriched mixture;
• c) determining, in the enriched mixture, the level of at least one of a free mitochondria, a mitochondria microparticle, a degradation product of the free mitochondria and/or a degradation product of the mitochondria microparticle to obtain a test level;
• and
• d) comparing the test level with a control level, wherein the control level is associated with the absence of the inflammatory mediator;
• and
• e) characterizing the biological sample as having the inflammatory mediator if the test level is determined to be higher than the control level or as lacking the inflammatory mediator if the test level is determined to be equal to or lower than the control level.