title: Nucleic acid aptamer-mediated drug delivery for targeted cancer therapy.
abstract: Aptamers are emerging as promising therapeutic agents and recognition elements. In particular, cell-SELEX (systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment) allows in vitro selection of aptamers selective to whole cells without prior knowledge of the molecular signatures on the cell surface. The advantage of aptamers is their high affinitiy and binding specificity towards the target. This Minireview focuses on single-stranded (ss) oligonucleotide (DNA or RNA)-based aptamers as cancer therapeutics/theranostics. Specifically, aptamer-nanomaterial conjugates, aptamer-drug conjugates, targeted phototherapy and targeted biotherapy are covered in detail. In reviewing the literature, the potential of aptamers as delivery systems for therapeutic and imaging applications in cancer is clear, however, major challenges remain to be resolved, such as the poorly understood pharmacokinetics, toxicity and off-target effects, before they can be fully exploited in a clinical setting.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Science & Biomedicine Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing & Chemometrics, College of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, and College of Biology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Molecular Engineering for Theranostics, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082 (China).
authors.forename: Huijie
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xiao-Bing
authors.initials: XB
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Mao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Weihong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide / Q000737:chemistry*; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000628:therapy; D017319:Photosensitizing Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000737:chemistry; D010789:Phototherapy
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide; D004337:Drug Carriers; D017319:Photosensitizing Agents
keywords: Aptamers; Cancer; Drug delivery; Nucleic acids; Theranostics; Therapeutics