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Updated: Aug 16, 2025

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Aptamers as Smart Ligands for Targeted Drug Delivery in Cancer Therapy

Zongyi Wei1, Yuxin Zhou1, Rongjie Wang1

  • 1Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory of Drug Design and Evaluation, School of Pharmacy, Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University, Nanchang 330013, China.

Pharmaceutics
|December 23, 2022
PubMed

Insights

Aptamers offer a promising solution for targeted cancer drug delivery, overcoming chemotherapy

Area of Science:

  • Biotechnology
  • Nanomedicine
  • Oncology

Background:

  • Conventional chemotherapy faces challenges with side effects and multidrug tolerance.
  • Targeted drug delivery aims to enhance drug concentration at the tumor site and minimize toxicity to healthy tissues.
  • Aptamers, with their high affinity and specificity, are emerging as effective targeting ligands in drug delivery systems.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the application of aptamers as smart ligands in targeted drug delivery for cancer therapy.
  • To highlight the potential of aptamer-mediated systems in overcoming limitations of traditional chemotherapy.

Main Methods:

  • Review of literature focusing on aptamer applications in cancer therapy.
  • Analysis of aptamer-conjugated nanocarriers and targeting strategies within the tumor microenvironment (TME).
  • Examination of aptamers targeting specific cancer biomarkers like nucleolin, mucin, and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR).

Main Results:

  • Aptamers demonstrate high specificity for tumor markers and cell surface glycoproteins.
  • Aptamer-conjugated nanocarriers show potential for enhanced drug enrichment at target sites.
  • Aptamer targeting strategies are effective in navigating and interacting with the tumor microenvironment.

Conclusions:

  • Aptamers are valuable as smart ligands for developing advanced targeted drug delivery systems in cancer treatment.
  • Aptamer-mediated delivery systems offer a promising strategy to improve therapeutic efficacy and reduce side effects in cancer therapy.
Keywords:
aptamerscancer therapydrug deliverysmart ligandstargeted

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