title: Nucleic acid aptamers in cancer medicine.
abstract: Many signalling proteins involved in diverse functions such as cell growth and differentiation can act as oncogenes and cause cellular transformation. These molecules represent attractive targets for cancer diagnosis or therapy and are therefore subject to intensive investigation. Aptamers are small nucleic acid molecules, isolated from combinatorial libraries by a procedure termed SELEX, that bind to a target molecule by providing a limited number of specific contact points embedded in a larger, defined three-dimensional structure. In some cases aptamers have the potential to inhibit the biological function of the molecule resulting in useful reagents for target validation in a variety of disease models.
authors.affiliation: Istituto per l'Endocrinologia e l'Oncologia Sperimentale del CNR G. Salvatore, via Pansini 5, 80131 Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cerchia
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hamm
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Libri
authors.forename: Bertrand
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tavitian
authors.forename: Vittorio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: de Franciscis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020650:Combinatorial Chemistry Techniques; D004355:Drug Stability; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D009841:Oligonucleotides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D009841:Oligonucleotides