Biomedical Applications of Nucleic Acid Materials in Targeted Protein Degradation Systems

Targeted protein degradation systems (TPDS), mainly including proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) and lysosome-targeting chimeras (LYTACs), have been widely employed in the development of precision medicines. As a class of biological macromolecules, nucleic acids, with excellent programmability and remarkable biocompatibility, have been successfully integrated into the TPDS to improve their specificity and efficacy. In this review, the recent progress about nucleic acid materials in the targeted protein degradation systems for various biomedical applications are summarized. Nucleic acid materials developed for cell targeting, as warheads, and as scaffolds in TPDS are highlighted. Furthermore, the challenges and future prospects of nucleic acid materials-based TPDS for in vivo biomedical applications are discussed.