Application of aptamers in treatment and diagnosis of leukemia

Leukemia is a cancer of blood cells and bone marrow, leading to death in many patients mainly in children. Over the last several years, aptamers generated by SELEX (Systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment) method, have quickly become a new class of targeting ligands for drug delivery applications and recently have been widely exploited in different biomedical applications, due to several potent properties such as high binding affinity and selectivity, low or no immunogenicity and toxicity, low cost and thermal stability. In this review, we presented in details about aptamers involved in targeting, and treatment of leukemia. Moreover, some analytical approaches such as electrochemical and optical aptasensors were introduced for detection and diagnosis of leukemia. Finally, we discussed about the directions and challenges of aptamer application in this field.