7 Aptamers for Personalized Therapeutics
185
Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is associated with poor prognosis and an aggressive phenotype because it is specifically expressed on the surface
of breast cancer cells [36]. If we look toward the personalized therapeutic treatment of HER2-overexpressing breast cancer, then trastuzumab is the only FDAapproved targeted therapeutic agent which can be quoted for the recent advancement
of breast cancer therapy. However, trastuzumab is limited greatly due to drug resistance which reduced its clinical efficacy [37]. Moosavian et al. (2015) isolated useful
RNA aptamer ligands for targeted breast cancer therapy that specifically bind to
HER2-overexpressing TUBO cell line [38]. Moreover, Tang Z et al. (2020) selected
an aptamer (HA1) targeting HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells. They devised
HA1 aptamer-guided composite drug delivery system consisting of grapefruitderived nanovectors (GNVs) targeting specifically HER2
+ breast cancer cells. Both
in vitro and in vivo increase in antitumor activities were observed by conjugating
HA1 with drug-loaded GNVs. So, aptamer-mediated drug delivery by GNVs was
proved to be a promising strategy for personalized HER2
+ breast cancer therapy [39].
Gliosarcoma, a variant of glioblastoma multiform (GBM), is a highly invasive
malignant tumor. Even in the era of modern treatments, unfortunately, this disease is
still known for poor prognosis. A group of DNA aptamers was selected by Wu et al.
(2016) by using cell-SELEX with high selectivity and affinity against gliosarcoma
cells K308. Among them, WQY-9 aptamer was reported with the highest affinity
and selectivity. Meanwhile, truncated aptamer sequence WQY-9-B showed similar
recognition ability to aptamer WQY-9. In addition, WQY-9-B was transported across
plasma membrane and internalized into cytoplasm of target cancer cell at 37 °C. It is
worth mentioning here that the aptamer WQY-9-B presented excellent recognition
rate (73.3%) against clinical tissue section samples of gliosarcoma in comparison
with a random sequence. It can be concluded that aptamer WQY-9-B exhibited an
excellent potential for drug delivery and diagnosis of gliosarcoma as an effective
personalized molecular probe [40]. Furthermore, Wu et al. (2019) identified one
aptamer named W5-7 with a K d value of 4.9 ± 1.4 nM, specific for a membrane
protein as its binding target. The sequence of the aptamer was further optimized and
its stability was observed even in cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) over 36 h. The optimized
aptamer was reported to be selective against GSCs in real CSF samples as well. It
revealed that W5-7 has the potential for its use as a molecular probe for detecting,
targeting, and isolating GSCs [41].
One of the most prevailing cancers in southern Asia and southern China is
nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The lack of effective biomarkers and its nonspecific symptoms lead to the late diagnosis resulting in poor 5-year survival rate in
most of patients. CD109 was identified by Jia et al., 2016 as a novel NPC biomarker
for the facilitation in early detection and effective therapy. Furthermore, CD109
protein was identified to be overexpressed in NPC cell lines and clinic tissues. So,
selection of an efficient aptamer S3 was reported by cell-SELEX against CD109.
They provided a potential aptamer-based strategy in NPC early diagnosis and targeted
therapy [42].
The ability of invasion and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) placed
it in one of the most deadly human cancers. For treatment of this disease, efficient
185
Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is associated with poor prognosis and an aggressive phenotype because it is specifically expressed on the surface
of breast cancer cells [36]. If we look toward the personalized therapeutic treatment of HER2-overexpressing breast cancer, then trastuzumab is the only FDAapproved targeted therapeutic agent which can be quoted for the recent advancement
of breast cancer therapy. However, trastuzumab is limited greatly due to drug resistance which reduced its clinical efficacy [37]. Moosavian et al. (2015) isolated useful
RNA aptamer ligands for targeted breast cancer therapy that specifically bind to
HER2-overexpressing TUBO cell line [38]. Moreover, Tang Z et al. (2020) selected
an aptamer (HA1) targeting HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells. They devised
HA1 aptamer-guided composite drug delivery system consisting of grapefruitderived nanovectors (GNVs) targeting specifically HER2
+ breast cancer cells. Both
in vitro and in vivo increase in antitumor activities were observed by conjugating
HA1 with drug-loaded GNVs. So, aptamer-mediated drug delivery by GNVs was
proved to be a promising strategy for personalized HER2
+ breast cancer therapy [39].
Gliosarcoma, a variant of glioblastoma multiform (GBM), is a highly invasive
malignant tumor. Even in the era of modern treatments, unfortunately, this disease is
still known for poor prognosis. A group of DNA aptamers was selected by Wu et al.
(2016) by using cell-SELEX with high selectivity and affinity against gliosarcoma
cells K308. Among them, WQY-9 aptamer was reported with the highest affinity
and selectivity. Meanwhile, truncated aptamer sequence WQY-9-B showed similar
recognition ability to aptamer WQY-9. In addition, WQY-9-B was transported across
plasma membrane and internalized into cytoplasm of target cancer cell at 37 °C. It is
worth mentioning here that the aptamer WQY-9-B presented excellent recognition
rate (73.3%) against clinical tissue section samples of gliosarcoma in comparison
with a random sequence. It can be concluded that aptamer WQY-9-B exhibited an
excellent potential for drug delivery and diagnosis of gliosarcoma as an effective
personalized molecular probe [40]. Furthermore, Wu et al. (2019) identified one
aptamer named W5-7 with a K d value of 4.9 ± 1.4 nM, specific for a membrane
protein as its binding target. The sequence of the aptamer was further optimized and
its stability was observed even in cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) over 36 h. The optimized
aptamer was reported to be selective against GSCs in real CSF samples as well. It
revealed that W5-7 has the potential for its use as a molecular probe for detecting,
targeting, and isolating GSCs [41].
One of the most prevailing cancers in southern Asia and southern China is
nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The lack of effective biomarkers and its nonspecific symptoms lead to the late diagnosis resulting in poor 5-year survival rate in
most of patients. CD109 was identified by Jia et al., 2016 as a novel NPC biomarker
for the facilitation in early detection and effective therapy. Furthermore, CD109
protein was identified to be overexpressed in NPC cell lines and clinic tissues. So,
selection of an efficient aptamer S3 was reported by cell-SELEX against CD109.
They provided a potential aptamer-based strategy in NPC early diagnosis and targeted
therapy [42].
The ability of invasion and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) placed
it in one of the most deadly human cancers. For treatment of this disease, efficient