title: Tracing the Therapeutic Process of Targeted Aptamer/Drug Conjugate on Cancer Cells by Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Spectroscopy.
abstract: Targeted delivery of chemotherapeutic agents to pathology areas can improve drug efficiency and reduce serious side effects on normal regions. However, their treatment mechanism on cells or cell nuclei is still mysterious due to the lack of in situ characterization methods. In this paper, the specific diagnosis and treatment processes of a targeted antitumor agent (doxorubicin, Dox) functionalized aptamer complex (TLS11a-GC-Dox) toward HepG2 cells, a human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line, were tracked in real time by the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopic technique and dark-field imaging with the assistance of gold nanorod-based nuclear targeted probes, which possess remarkable SERS enhancement ability, specific targeting, and excellent biological compatibility. This is the first time to explore the acting mechanism of an aptamer-based targeted drug on cell nucleus based on the spectral information on components inside the cell nucleus. The results demonstrate that this aptamer/drug conjugate has targeting and sustained-release actions and its therapeutic effect is achieved by the gradual damage of relevant proteins and DNA in nuclei. Better understanding of the mechanism of aptamer-drug conjugates acting on cancer cells is conductive to increasing cancer therapy efficiency and is also helpful for the design of highly effective drug delivery methods.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, Jilin University , Changchun 130012, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Institute of Frontier Medical Science, Jilin University , Changchun 130021, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Huixin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, Jilin University , Changchun 130012, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lijia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, Jilin University , Changchun 130012, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, Jilin University , Changchun 130012, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Biying
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Frontier Medical Science, Jilin University , Changchun 130021, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Dianshuai
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, Jilin University , Changchun 130012, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shuping
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6216-6175
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Frontier Medical Science, Jilin University , Changchun 130021, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Chongyang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, Jilin University , Changchun 130012, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Weiqing
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry; D056945:Hep G2 Cells; D006801:Humans; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide; D004337:Drug Carriers; D006046:Gold; D004317:Doxorubicin