title: DNA Aptamers in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases.
abstract: Aptamers have a promising role in the field of life science and have been extensively researched for application as analytical tools, therapeutic agents and as vehicles for targeted drug delivery. Compared with RNA aptamers, DNA aptamers have inherent advantages in stability and facility of generation and synthesis. To better understand the specific potential of DNA aptamers, an overview of the progress in the generation and application of DNA aptamers in human disease diagnosis and therapy are presented in this review. Special attention is given to researches that are relatively close to practical application. DNA aptamers are expected to have great potential in the diagnosis and treatment of human diseases.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University, 1-14 Bunkyo-machi, Nagasaki 852-8521, Japan. zhu_qinchang@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Qinchang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Genomic Epidemiology, Research Center for Environment and Developmental Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan. lggege_15@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Ge
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University, 1-14 Bunkyo-machi, Nagasaki 852-8521, Japan. ms-kai@nagasaki-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Masaaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kai
mesh_terms: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004194:Disease; D004337:Drug Carriers; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide; D004337:Drug Carriers
keywords: DNA aptamers; diagnosis; human diseases; therapeutics