The following is a summary of “Aptamers as an approach to targeted cancer therapy,” published in the March 2024 issue of Oncology by Mahmoudian et al.
Conventional cancer treatments often elicit serious side effects due to their lack of specificity towards cancer cells, resulting in collateral damage to healthy tissues. In contrast, aptamers represent a promising avenue for precision cancer therapy owing to their unique ability to bind to target sites selectively.
These single-stranded oligonucleotides are meticulously designed to adopt distinctive architectures, facilitating precise targeting. Typically generated through the systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX), aptamers undergo rigorous pharmacological optimization to enhance their affinity, specificity, and therapeutic half-life. Functionally, aptamers can serve as therapeutic agents by directly inhibiting tumor cells.
Alternatively, they can be integrated into targeted drug delivery systems, facilitating the precise delivery of therapeutic payloads exclusively to tumor sites while sparing healthy tissues from toxicity. In this comprehensive review, researchers aim to elucidate the latest advancements and cutting-edge strategies in leveraging aptamers for cancer treatment, focusing on targeted therapies tailored to overcome resistance to conventional treatment modalities.
Source: cancerci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12935-024-03295-4