title: Aptamers as drug delivery vehicles.
abstract: The benefits of directed and selective therapy for systemic treatment are reasons for increased interest in exploiting aptamers for cell-specific drug delivery. Nucleic acid based pharmaceuticals represent an interesting and novel tool to counter human diseases. Combining inhibitory potential and cargo transfer upon internalization, nanocarriers as well as various therapeutics including siRNAs, chemotherapeutics, photosensitizers, or proteins can be imported via these synthetic nucleic acids. However, widespread clinical application is still hampered by obstacles that must be overcome. In this review, we give an overview of applications and recent advances in aptamer-mediated drug delivery. We also introduce prominent selection methods as well as useful approaches in choice of drug and conjugation method. We discuss the challenges that need to be considered and present strategies that have been applied to achieve intracellular delivery of effectors transported by readily internalized aptamers.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Biochemie und Molekularbiologie, Universität Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King Platz 6, 20146 Hamburg (Germany).
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kruspe
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mittelberger
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Szameit
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Hahn
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide / Q000494:pharmacology*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D006801:Humans; D052156:SELEX Aptamer Technique
chemical_list: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide
keywords: antitumor agents; aptamers; conjugation; drug delivery; targeted therapy