Anti-proliferation and induction of mitochondria-mediated apoptosis by resin in colorectal cancer cells.

Introduction: Several parts of are used in traditional medicine for many purposes. In this study, resin (GHR) was explored for possible anti-proliferative effects and the underlying mechanism on colorectal cancer (CRC) cells.

Methods: Gambogic acid (GA) content in GHR was analyzed by HPLC method.

Anti-Proliferative Effect of Doxorubicin-Loaded AS1411 Aptamer on Colorectal Cancer Cell.

Background: Doxorubicin (Dox) inhibits DNA replication and causes DNA damage resulting in cell death. It is a common drug for treatment of many cancers. Treatment efficacy and side effects of Dox are critical issues in using it because the drug lacks of specificity.

A molecular hybrid comprising AS1411 and PDGF-BB aptamer, cholesterol, and doxorubicin for inhibiting proliferation of SW480 cells.

Cancer treatment commonly relies on chemotherapy. This treatment faces many challenges, including treatment specificity and undesired side effects. To address these, a Dox-loaded Chol-aptamer molecular hybrid (Dox-CAH) was developed.

Inhibition of Colorectal Cancer Cell Proliferation by Regulating Platelet-Derived Growth Factor B Signaling with a DNA Aptamer.

Background: Overexpression of platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB) is associated with colorectal carcinogenesis. PDGF-BB plays a role in the autocrine growth stimulation of cancer cells. Aptamers are short single-stranded oligonucleotides that can bind to cellular targets with high affinity and specificity and offer the advantage of non-immunogenicity, non-toxicity and high stability.

Effect of PDGF-B aptamer on PDGFRβ/PDGF-B interaction: Molecular dynamics study.

PDGFRβ/PDGF-B interaction plays a role in angiogenesis, and is mandatory in wound healing and cancer treatment. It has been reported that the PDGF-B aptamer was able to bind to PDGF-B, thus regulating the angiogenesis. However, the binding interaction between the aptamer and the growth factor, including the binding sites, has not been well investigated.

Oligonucleotide Hybridization Combined with Competitive Antibody Binding for the Truncation of a High-Affinity Aptamer.

Truncation can enhance the affinity of aptamers for their targets by limiting nonessential segments and therefore limiting the molecular degrees of freedom that must be overcome in the binding process. This study demonstrated a truncation protocol relying on competitive antibody binding and the hybridization of complementary oligonucleotides, using platelet derived growth factor BB (PDGF-BB) as the model target. On the basis of the immunoassay results, an initial long aptamer was truncated to a number of sequences with lengths of 36-40 nucleotides (nt).

Aptamer-gelatin composite for a trigger release system mediated by oligonucleotide hybridization.

Nucleic acid aptamers not only specifically bind to their target proteins with high affinity but also form intermolecular hybridization with their complementary oligonucleotides (CO). The hybridization can interrupt aptamer/protein interaction due to the changes of aptamer secondary structure which rely on hybridization length and base-pairing positions. Herein we aim to use this unique property of the aptamers, when combined with gelatin to develop a novel composite with desirable protein release profiles.

Programmable release of multiple protein drugs from aptamer-functionalized hydrogels via nucleic acid hybridization.

Polymeric delivery systems have been extensively studied to achieve localized and controlled release of protein drugs. However, it is still challenging to control the release of multiple protein drugs in distinct stages according to the progress of disease or treatment. This study successfully demonstrates that multiple protein drugs can be released from aptamer-functionalized hydrogels with adjustable release rates at predetermined time points using complementary sequences (CSs) as biomolecular triggers.

Enhanced loading and controlled release of antibiotics using nucleic acids as an antibiotic-binding effector in hydrogels.

Antibiotic delivery is important to treat bacterial infections, one of the most challenging health problems globally. This study explored the application of nucleic acids as an antibiotic-binding effector for antibiotic loading and release. The data showed that the partition coefficient of tetracycline increased proportionally to the oligonucleotide concentration ranging from 0 to 1 mM.

Cell adhesion on an artificial extracellular matrix using aptamer-functionalized PEG hydrogels.

The development of an artificial extracellular matrix (ECM) is important to regenerative medicine because the ECM plays complex and dynamic roles in the regulation of cell behavior. In this study, nucleic acid aptamers were applied to functionalize hydrogels for mimicking the adhesion sites of the ECM. The results showed that nucleic acid aptamers could be incorporated into polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogels via free radical polymerization.

Affinity hydrogels for controlled protein release using nucleic acid aptamers and complementary oligonucleotides.

Biomaterials for the precise control of protein release are important to the development of new strategies for treating human diseases. This study aimed to fundamentally understand aptamer--protein dissociation triggered by complementary oligonucleotides, and to apply this understanding to develop affinity hydrogels for controlled protein release. The results showed that the oligonucleotide tails of the aptamers played a critical role in inducing intermolecular hybridization and triggering aptamer--protein dissociation.

Structural prediction and binding analysis of hybridized aptamers.

Few studies were performed to investigate the molecular recognition capabilities of hybridized aptamers. This study is aimed at applying both theoretical algorithms and experimental assays to examine the effects of hybridization length and region on the secondary structures and binding functionality of hybridized aptamers. The experimental results were significantly different from the structural predictions in many hybridization conditions.

Nucleic acid aptamers for clinical diagnosis: cell detection and molecular imaging.

Nucleic acid aptamers have recently attracted significant attention in the field of clinical diagnosis because they have numerous merits, such as high affinity, high specificity, small size, little immunogenicity, stable structures, and ease of synthesis. This review focuses on discussing the potential applications of aptamers in cell detection and molecular imaging. For the ex vivo cell detection, this review discusses the status of five strategies: endogenous nucleic acid analysis, flow cytometry analysis, nanoparticle-based cell sensing, microfluidic cell separation, and histological examination.

Aptamer-functionalized in situ injectable hydrogel for controlled protein release.

Various in situ injectable hydrogels have been developed for protein delivery in treating human diseases. However, most hydrogels are highly permeable, which can lead to the rapid release of loaded proteins. The purpose of this study is to apply nucleic acid aptamers to functionalize an in situ injectable hydrogel model to control the release of proteins.

A temperature-responsive antibody-like nanostructure.

Antibodies play an essential role in various applications. However, antibodies exhibit considerable challenges in applications that require tunable binding capabilities and exposure to nonphysiological conditions such as chemical conjugation. This study is aimed to develop a novel antibody-like nanostructure with special features.

Hydrogel functionalization with DNA aptamers for sustained PDGF-BB release.

We demonstrate that hydrogel functionalization with DNA aptamers can be applied for developing a novel sustained-release system.

Development of a novel pretargeting system with bifunctional nucleic acid molecules.

This study was aimed at exploring a novel pretargeting system based upon bifunctional nucleic acid molecules that are comprised of a nucleic acid aptamer and a nucleic acid tail. The properties of bifunctional molecules were investigated by both theoretical prediction and experimental determination. Different from the algorithm-based structure prediction, the experimental data showed that some nucleic acid tails could significantly decrease the binding capability of the aptamer.

A hybrid DNA aptamer-dendrimer nanomaterial for targeted cell labeling.

Antibodies are natural nanomaterials and have been widely used for targeted cell labeling. However, the applications of antibodies are often limited by their large size and instability. The purpose of this study is to develop a new type of multifunctional nanomaterial that is comprised of a nucleic acid aptamer and a dendrimer, both of which are stable.