Visualization of Brain Tumors with Infrared-Labeled Aptamers for Fluorescence-Guided Surgery.

Gliomas remain challenging brain tumors to treat due to their infiltrative nature. Accurately identifying tumor boundaries during surgery is crucial for successful resection. This study introduces an innovative intraoperative visualization method utilizing surgical fluorescence microscopy to precisely locate tumor cell dissemination.

Development of DNA aptamers for visualization of glial brain tumors and detection of circulating tumor cells.

Here, we present DNA aptamers capable of specific binding to glial tumor cells , , and for visualization diagnostics of central nervous system tumors. We selected the aptamers binding specifically to the postoperative human glial primary tumors and not to the healthy brain cells and meningioma, using a modified process of systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment to cells; sequenced and analyzed ssDNA pools using bioinformatic tools and identified the best aptamers by their binding abilities; determined three-dimensional structures of lead aptamers (Gli-55 and Gli-233) with small-angle X-ray scattering and molecular modeling; isolated and identified molecular target proteins of the aptamers by mass spectrometry; the potential binding sites of Gli-233 to the target protein and the role of post-translational modifications were verified by molecular dynamics simulations. The anti-glioma aptamers Gli-233 and Gli-55 were used to detect circulating tumor cells in liquid biopsies.

C-radiolabeled aptamer for imaging of tumors and metastases using positron emission tomography- computed tomography.

Identification of primary tumors and metastasis sites is an essential step in cancer diagnostics and the following treatment. Positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT) is one of the most reliable methods for scanning the whole organism for malignancies. In this work, we synthesized an C-labeled oligonucleotide primer and hybridized it to an anti-cancer DNA aptamer.

Aptamer-Targeted Plasmonic Photothermal Therapy of Cancer.

Novel nanoscale bioconjugates combining unique plasmonic photothermal properties of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with targeted delivery using cell-specific DNA aptamers have a tremendous potential for medical diagnostics and therapy of many cell-based diseases. In this study, we demonstrate the high anti-cancer activity of aptamer-conjugated, 37-nm spherical gold nanoparticles toward Ehrlich carcinoma in tumor-bearing mice after photothermal treatment. The synthetic anti-tumor aptamers bring the nanoparticles precisely to the desired cells and selectively eliminate cancer cells after the subsequent laser treatment.