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Theranostics 2015; 5(1):23-42. doi:10.7150/thno.10202 This issue Cite

Review

Nucleic Acid Aptamer-Guided Cancer Therapeutics and Diagnostics: the Next Generation of Cancer Medicine

Dongxi Xiang^1*, Sarah Shigdar^1*, Greg Qiao², Tao Wang¹, Abbas Z. Kouzani³, Shu-Feng Zhou⁴, Lingxue Kong⁵, Yong Li⁶, Chunwen Pu^7✉, Wei Duan^1✉

1. School of Medicine, Deakin University, Pigdons Road, Waurn Ponds, Victoria 3216, Australia
2. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Melbourne School of Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia
3. School of Engineering, Deakin University, Pigdons Road, Waurn Ponds, Victoria 3216, Australia
4. Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33612, USA
5. Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Victoria, Australia
6. Cancer Care Centre, St George Hospital and St George Clinical School, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Kensington, NSW2052, Australia
7. The Affiliated Zhongshan Hospital of Dalian University, 6 Jiefang Road, Dalian, Liaoning, The People's Republic of China, 116001
* These authors contributed equally.

✉ Corresponding author: The Affiliated Zhongshan Hospital of Dalian University, Dalian 116001, China, Tel.: +86 - 411 62893015; Fax: +86 - 411 62893555; E-mail: dahaixiaowencom (C. Pu). Or School of Medicine, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Victoria 3216, Australia. Tel.: +61 - 3 5227 1149; Fax: +61 - 3 5227 2945; E-mail: wduanedu.au (W. Duan). More

Abstract

Conventional anticancer therapies, such as chemo- and/or radio-therapy are often unable to completely eradicate cancers due to abnormal tumor microenvironment, as well as increased drug/radiation resistance. More effective therapeutic strategies for overcoming these obstacles are urgently in demand. Aptamers, as chemical antibodies that bind to targets with high affinity and specificity, are a promising new and novel agent for both cancer diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Aptamer-based cancer cell targeting facilitates the development of active targeting in which aptamer-mediated drug delivery could provide promising anticancer outcomes. This review is to update the current progress of aptamer-based cancer diagnosis and aptamer-mediated active targeting for cancer therapy in vivo, exploring the potential of this novel form of targeted cancer therapy.

Keywords: aptamer, cancer therapy, active targeting, cancer stem cell, chemoresistance, cancer theranostic

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