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Published on: September 13, 2022
A polyvalent aptamer system for targeted drug delivery.
Zhiqing Zhang1, M Monsur Ali, Mark A Eckert
1State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, College of Science, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao 266580, People's Republic of China; Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center and Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, Irvine, 845 Health Sciences Road, Irvine, CA 92697, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Edwards Lifesciences Center for Advanced Cardiovascular Technology, University of California, Irvine, 845 Health Sciences Road, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
New polyvalent aptamer-drug conjugates show enhanced efficacy for leukemia treatment. This novel approach improves cancer cell targeting and internalization, potentially reducing chemotherapy side effects.
Area of Science:
- Biotechnology
- Nanomedicine
- Cancer Therapeutics
Background:
- Current chemotherapy faces challenges with poor efficacy and systemic toxicity.
- Developing targeted drug delivery systems is crucial for improving cancer treatment outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and evaluate a novel polyvalent aptamer-drug conjugate (Poly-Aptamer-Drug) system for enhanced cancer therapy.
- To investigate the efficacy of Poly-Aptamer-Drug in targeting and killing leukemia cells compared to monovalent counterparts.
Main Methods:
- Synthesized polyvalent aptamers using rolling circle amplification.
- Physically intercalated chemotherapy agents into the aptamer structure.
- Utilized a leukemia cell-binding aptamer and doxorubicin as a model system.
- Assessed binding affinity and cellular internalization of the Poly-Aptamer-Drug system.
Main Results:
- Successfully constructed Poly-Aptamer-Drug systems for leukemia targeting.
- Demonstrated significantly enhanced binding affinity (≈ 40-fold increase) to leukemia cells.
- Observed improved cellular internalization and increased efficacy in killing leukemia cells due to multivalent effects.
Conclusions:
- The Poly-Aptamer-Drug approach offers superior targeting and killing of leukemia cells compared to monovalent systems.
- This novel platform provides a tunable therapeutic strategy for effective cancer treatment with minimized side effects.
- Poly-Aptamer-Drug systems represent a promising new class of cancer therapeutics.
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