Adv Biochem Eng Biotechnol (2020) 174: 161–194
DOI: 10.1007/10_2020_124
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Published online: 11 March 2020
Aptamer-Modified Nanoparticles
in Medical Applications
Alina Eilers, Sandra Witt, and Johanna Walter
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
1.1 Coupling of Aptamers to Nanoparticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
1.2 Aptamer-Modified Nanoparticles and Multivalent Binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
2 Assays with Aptamer-Modified Nanoparticles in Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
2.1 Assays Using Aptamer-Modified Gold Nanoparticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
2.2 Biosensors Using Aptamer-Modified Nanoparticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
2.3 Cell Detection with Aptamer-Modified Nanoparticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
3 Aptamer-Modified Nanoparticles for Therapeutic Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
3.1 Drug Delivery with Aptamer-Modified Nanoparticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
3.2 Photothermal and Photodynamic Therapy with Aptamer-Modified Nanoparticles . 181
3.3 Other Therapeutic Applications of Aptamer-Modified Nanoparticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
4 Summary and Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Abstract Since aptamers have been selected against a broad range of target structures of medical interest and nanoparticles are available with diverse properties,
aptamer-modified nanoparticles can be used in various diagnostic and therapeutic
applications. While the aptamer is responsible for specificity and affinity of the
conjugate, the nanoparticles’ function varies from signal generation in diagnostic
approaches to drug loading in drug delivery systems. Within this chapter different
medical applications of aptamer-modified nanoparticles will be summarized and
underlying principles will be described.
Alina Eilers and Sandra Witt contributed equally to this work.
A. Eilers, S. Witt, and J. Walter (*)
Institut für Technische Chemie, Hannover, Germany
e-mail: walter@iftc.uni-hannover.de
DOI: 10.1007/10_2020_124
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Published online: 11 March 2020
Aptamer-Modified Nanoparticles
in Medical Applications
Alina Eilers, Sandra Witt, and Johanna Walter
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
1.1 Coupling of Aptamers to Nanoparticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
1.2 Aptamer-Modified Nanoparticles and Multivalent Binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
2 Assays with Aptamer-Modified Nanoparticles in Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
2.1 Assays Using Aptamer-Modified Gold Nanoparticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
2.2 Biosensors Using Aptamer-Modified Nanoparticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
2.3 Cell Detection with Aptamer-Modified Nanoparticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
3 Aptamer-Modified Nanoparticles for Therapeutic Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
3.1 Drug Delivery with Aptamer-Modified Nanoparticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
3.2 Photothermal and Photodynamic Therapy with Aptamer-Modified Nanoparticles . 181
3.3 Other Therapeutic Applications of Aptamer-Modified Nanoparticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
4 Summary and Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Abstract Since aptamers have been selected against a broad range of target structures of medical interest and nanoparticles are available with diverse properties,
aptamer-modified nanoparticles can be used in various diagnostic and therapeutic
applications. While the aptamer is responsible for specificity and affinity of the
conjugate, the nanoparticles’ function varies from signal generation in diagnostic
approaches to drug loading in drug delivery systems. Within this chapter different
medical applications of aptamer-modified nanoparticles will be summarized and
underlying principles will be described.
Alina Eilers and Sandra Witt contributed equally to this work.
A. Eilers, S. Witt, and J. Walter (*)
Institut für Technische Chemie, Hannover, Germany
e-mail: walter@iftc.uni-hannover.de