Aptamers as Delivery Agents of siRNA and Chimeric Formulations for the Treatment of Cancer

• Published in: Pharmaceutics Vol. 11; no. 12; p. 684
• Main Authors: Dinis Ano Bom, Ana Paula, da Costa Neves, Patrícia Cristina, Bonacossa de Almeida, Carlos Eduardo, Silva, Dilson, Missailidis, Sotiris
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 16-12-2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Acids; Apoptosis; Binding sites; Breast cancer; Cancer therapies; Drug dosages; Epidermal growth factor; Genes; Insulin-like growth factors; Kinases; Ligands; Lymphoma; Metastasis; Nanoparticles; Prostate cancer; Review; Tumors; cancer; siRNA; nanoparticles; aptamers
• ISSN: 1999-4923; 1999-4923
• DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics11120684

Both aptamers and siRNA technologies have now reached maturity, and both have been validated with a product in the market. However, although pegaptanib reached the market some time ago, there has been a slow process for new aptamers to follow. Today, some 40 aptamers are in the market, but many in combination with siRNAs, in the form of specific delivery agents. This combination offers the potential to explore the high affinity and specificity of aptamers, the silencing power of siRNA, and, at times, the cytotoxicity of chemotherapy molecules in powerful combinations that promise to delivery new and potent therapies. In this review, we report new developments in the field, following up from our previous work, more specifically on the use of aptamers as delivery agents of siRNA in nanoparticle formulations, alone or in combination with chemotherapy, for the treatment of cancer.