Current Advances in Aptamers for Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy

Nucleic acid aptamers are single-stranded oligonucleotides that interact with target molecules with high affinity and specificity in unique three-dimensional structures. Aptamers are generally isolated by a simple selection process called systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) and then can be chemically synthesized and modified. Because of their high affinity and specificity, aptamers are promising agents for biomarker discovery, as well as cancer diagnosis and therapy. In this review, we present recent progress and challenges in aptamer and SELEX technology and highlight some representative applications of aptamers in cancer therapy.

Download Full-text

Selective High-Affinity Ligand Antibody Mimics for Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy: Initial Application to Lymphoma/Leukemia

Clinical Cancer Research ◽

10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-07-1128 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 13 (18) ◽

pp. 5621s-5628s ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Rod Balhorn ◽

Saphon Hok ◽

Patricia A. Burke ◽

Felice C. Lightstone ◽

Monique Cosman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cancer Diagnosis ◽

High Affinity ◽

Diagnosis And Therapy ◽

Initial Application ◽

Affinity Ligand ◽

Antibody Mimics ◽

Cancer Diagnosis And Therapy ◽

High Affinity Ligand

Download Full-text

Bioapplications of Cell-SELEX-Generated Aptamers in Cancer Diagnostics, Therapeutics, Theranostics and Biomarker Discovery: A Comprehensive Review

Cancers ◽

10.3390/cancers10020047 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 47 ◽

Cited By ~ 44

Author(s):

Xuehui Pang ◽

Cheng Cui ◽

Shuo Wan ◽

Ying Jiang ◽

Liangliang Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Biomarker Discovery ◽

Drug Carriers ◽

Cancer Diagnostics ◽

High Affinity ◽

Protein Receptors ◽

Target Molecules ◽

Systematic Evolution ◽

Multifunctional Molecules ◽

Exponential Enrichment ◽

Single Stranded Oligonucleotide

Currently, functional single-stranded oligonucleotide probes, termed aptamers, generated by an iterative technology, Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment (SELEX), are utilized to selectively target molecules or cells with high affinity. Aptamers hold considerable promise as multifunctional molecules or conjugates for challenging nanotechnologies or bioapplications now and in the future. In this review, we first describe recent endeavors to select aptamers towards live cancer cells via cell-SELEX. We then introduce several characteristic applications of selected aptamers, especially in imaging, drug delivery and therapy. In part, these advances have been made possible via synthesis of aptamer-based nanomaterials, which, by their sizes, shapes, and physicochemical properties, allow such aptamer-nanomaterial complexes to function as signal reporters or drug carriers. We also describe how these aptamer-based molecular tools contribute to cancer biomarker discovery through high-affinity recognition of membrane protein receptors.

Download Full-text

Cell-SELEX-based aptamer-conjugated nanomaterials for cancer diagnosis and therapy

National Science Review ◽

10.1093/nsr/nwv001 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 71-84 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Hong-Min Meng ◽

Ting Fu ◽

Xiao-Bing Zhang ◽

Weihong Tan

Keyword(s):

Cancer Diagnosis ◽

Metallic Nanoparticles ◽

Carbon Nanomaterials ◽

Polymeric Nanoparticles ◽

High Specificity ◽

Diagnosis And Therapy ◽

Systematic Evolution ◽

Exponential Enrichment ◽

Cancer Diagnosis And Therapy ◽

Significant Attention

Abstract Nucleic acid aptamers, which are generated by a novel technique called SELEX (systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment), have recently attracted significant attention in the field of early detection and treatment of cancer based on their numerous merits, such as high affinity, high specificity, small size, little immunogenicity, stable structures, and ease of chemical modification. Furthermore, aptamers can gain more flexibility as cancer cell targeting tools when conjugated to nanomaterials, including metallic nanoparticles, carbon nanomaterials, DNA nanodevices, and polymeric nanoparticles. We discuss the progress achieved in cancer diagnosis and therapy through the conjugation of cell-SELEX-based aptamers with different nanomaterials.

Download Full-text

Using Aptamers for Cancer Biomarker Discovery

Journal of Nucleic Acids ◽

10.1155/2013/817350 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 2013 ◽

pp. 1-7 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Yun Min Chang ◽

Michael J. Donovan ◽

Weihong Tan

Keyword(s):

Iterative Method ◽

Cancer Diagnosis ◽

Biomarker Discovery ◽

Clinical Medicine ◽

High Specificity ◽

Specific Target ◽

Synthetic Dna ◽

High Affinity ◽

Systematic Evolution ◽

Exponential Enrichment

Aptamers are single-stranded synthetic DNA- or RNA-based oligonucleotides that fold into various shapes to bind to a specific target, which includes proteins, metals, and molecules. Aptamers have high affinity and high specificity that are comparable to that of antibodies. They are obtained using iterative method, called (Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment) SELEX and cell-based SELEX (cell-SELEX). Aptamers can be paired with recent advances in nanotechnology, microarray, microfluidics, and other technologies for applications in clinical medicine. One particular area that aptamers can shed a light on is biomarker discovery. Biomarkers are important in diagnosis and treatment of cancer. In this paper, we will describe ways in which aptamers can be used to discover biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and therapeutics.

Download Full-text