Aptamers and Their Significant Role in Cancer Therapy and Diagnosis

Overview

Journal Biomedicines

Specialty Biomedical Engineering

Date 2017 May 25

PMID 28536411

Citations 14

Authors

Joy Sebastian Prakash

Karunanithi Rajamanickam

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Aptamers are nucleic acid/peptide molecules that can be generated by a sophisticated, well-established technique known as Systematic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential enrichment (SELEX). Aptamers can interact with their targets through structural recognition, as in antibodies, though with higher specificity. With this added advantage, they can be made useful for clinical applications such as targeted therapy and diagnosis. In this review, we have discussed the steps involved in SELEX process and modifications executed to attain high affinity nucleic acid aptamers. Moreover, our review also highlights the therapeutic applications of aptamer functionalized nanoparticles and nucleic acids as chemo-therapeutic agents. In addition, we have described the development of "aptasensor" in clinical diagnostic application for detecting cancer cells and the use of aptamers in different routine imaging techniques, such as Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography, Ultrasound, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Citing Articles

Aptamer-Based Recognition of Breast Tumor Cells: A New Era for Breast Cancer Diagnosis.

de Araujo N, Moreira A, Abreu R, Junior V, Antunes D, Mendonca J Int J Mol Sci. 2024; 25(2).

PMID: 38255914 PMC: 10815801. DOI: 10.3390/ijms25020840.

Application of Non-Viral Vectors in Drug Delivery and Gene Therapy.

Ren S, Wang M, Wang C, Wang Y, Sun C, Zeng Z Polymers (Basel). 2021; 13(19).

PMID: 34641123 PMC: 8512075. DOI: 10.3390/polym13193307.

An Overview of Methods and Tools for Transfection of Eukaryotic Cells .

Fus-Kujawa A, Prus P, Bajdak-Rusinek K, Teper P, Gawron K, Kowalczuk A Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2021; 9:701031.

PMID: 34354988 PMC: 8330802. DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2021.701031.

Novel Approach to Overcome Defects of Cell-SELEX in Developing Aptamers against Aspartate β-Hydroxylase.

Bakhtiari H, Palizban A, Khanahmad H, Mofid M ACS Omega. 2021; 6(16):11005-11014.

PMID: 34056254 PMC: 8153902. DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.1c00876.

Advances in targeted nanotherapeutics: From bioconjugation to biomimicry.

Valcourt D, Harris J, Riley R, Dang M, Wang J, Day E Nano Res. 2019; 11(10):4999-5016.

PMID: 31772723 PMC: 6879063. DOI: 10.1007/s12274-018-2083-z.

References

Goringer H, Homann M, Lorger M . In vitro selection of high-affinity nucleic acid ligands to parasite target molecules. Int J Parasitol. 2003; 33(12):1309-17. DOI: 10.1016/s0020-7519(03)00197-8. View

Hicke B, Marion C, Chang Y, Gould T, Lynott C, Parma D . Tenascin-C aptamers are generated using tumor cells and purified protein. J Biol Chem. 2001; 276(52):48644-54. DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M104651200. View

Shu Y, Shu D, Haque F, Guo P . Fabrication of pRNA nanoparticles to deliver therapeutic RNAs and bioactive compounds into tumor cells. Nat Protoc. 2013; 8(9):1635-59. PMC: 3883045. DOI: 10.1038/nprot.2013.097. View

Ng E, Shima D, Calias P, Cunningham Jr E, Guyer D, Adamis A . Pegaptanib, a targeted anti-VEGF aptamer for ocular vascular disease. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2006; 5(2):123-32. DOI: 10.1038/nrd1955. View

Berezovski M, Drabovich A, Krylova S, Musheev M, Okhonin V, Petrov A . Nonequilibrium capillary electrophoresis of equilibrium mixtures: a universal tool for development of aptamers. J Am Chem Soc. 2005; 127(9):3165-71. DOI: 10.1021/ja042394q. View

Mendonsa S, Bowser M . In vitro selection of high-affinity DNA ligands for human IgE using capillary electrophoresis. Anal Chem. 2004; 76(18):5387-92. DOI: 10.1021/ac049857v. View

Guo P . The emerging field of RNA nanotechnology. Nat Nanotechnol. 2010; 5(12):833-42. PMC: 3149862. DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2010.231. View

Reinemann C, Strehlitz B . Aptamer-modified nanoparticles and their use in cancer diagnostics and treatment. Swiss Med Wkly. 2014; 144:w13908. DOI: 10.4414/smw.2014.13908. View

Nakatsuka M, Mattrey R, Esener S, Cha J, Goodwin A . Aptamer-crosslinked microbubbles: smart contrast agents for thrombin-activated ultrasound imaging. Adv Mater. 2012; 24(45):6010-6. PMC: 3626403. DOI: 10.1002/adma.201201484. View

10.

Kim Y, Gu M . Advances in aptamer screening and small molecule aptasensors. Adv Biochem Eng Biotechnol. 2013; 140:29-67. DOI: 10.1007/10_2013_225. View

11.

Naimuddin M, Kitamura K, Kinoshita Y, Honda-Takahashi Y, Murakami M, Ito M . Selection-by-function: efficient enrichment of cathepsin E inhibitors from a DNA library. J Mol Recognit. 2006; 20(1):58-68. DOI: 10.1002/jmr.812. View

12.

Gilbert J, DeFeo-Fraulini T, Hutabarat R, Horvath C, Merlino P, Marsh H . First-in-human evaluation of anti von Willebrand factor therapeutic aptamer ARC1779 in healthy volunteers. Circulation. 2007; 116(23):2678-86. DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.107.724864. View

13.

OSullivan C . Aptasensors--the future of biosensing?. Anal Bioanal Chem. 2002; 372(1):44-8. DOI: 10.1007/s00216-001-1189-3. View

14.

Wang J, Sefah K, Altman M, Chen T, You M, Zhao Z . Aptamer-conjugated nanorods for targeted photothermal therapy of prostate cancer stem cells. Chem Asian J. 2013; 8(10):2417-22. DOI: 10.1002/asia.201300375. View

15.

Stoltenburg R, Reinemann C, Strehlitz B . SELEX--a (r)evolutionary method to generate high-affinity nucleic acid ligands. Biomol Eng. 2007; 24(4):381-403. DOI: 10.1016/j.bioeng.2007.06.001. View

16.

Nimjee S, Rusconi C, Sullenger B . Aptamers: an emerging class of therapeutics. Annu Rev Med. 2005; 56:555-83. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.med.56.062904.144915. View

17.

Hermann T, Patel D . Adaptive recognition by nucleic acid aptamers. Science. 2000; 287(5454):820-5. DOI: 10.1126/science.287.5454.820. View

18.

Stoltenburg R, Reinemann C, Strehlitz B . FluMag-SELEX as an advantageous method for DNA aptamer selection. Anal Bioanal Chem. 2005; 383(1):83-91. DOI: 10.1007/s00216-005-3388-9. View

19.

Wang J, Rudzinski J, Gong Q, Soh H, Atzberger P . Influence of target concentration and background binding on in vitro selection of affinity reagents. PLoS One. 2012; 7(8):e43940. PMC: 3429449. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0043940. View

20.

Basnar B, Elnathan R, Willner I . Following aptamer-thrombin binding by force measurements. Anal Chem. 2006; 78(11):3638-42. DOI: 10.1021/ac052289e. View