Advances in Oligonucleotide Aptamers for NSCLC Targeting

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 21; no. 17; p. 6075
• Main Authors: Rotoli, Deborah, Santana-Viera, Laura, Ibba, Maria L, Esposito, Carla L, Catuogno, Silvia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 23-08-2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Antineoplastic Agents - chemistry; Antineoplastic Agents - pharmacology; aptamer; Aptamers; Aptamers, Nucleotide - chemistry; Aptamers, Nucleotide - pharmacology; biomarker discovery; Cancer therapies; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung - diagnosis; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung - drug therapy; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung - genetics; Cell adhesion & migration; Chemotherapy; Combinatorial analysis; Combinatorial chemistry; Diagnosis; Diagnostic systems; Drug Delivery Systems - methods; Growth factors; Humans; Immunotherapy; Kinases; Ligands; Lung cancer; Lung Neoplasms - diagnosis; Lung Neoplasms - drug therapy; Lung Neoplasms - genetics; Metastases; Metastasis; Mutation; Nanostructures - chemistry; Non-small cell lung carcinoma; NSCLC; Oncology; Patients; Physiology; Radiation therapy; Review; RNA - chemistry; SELEX; SELEX Aptamer Technique - methods; targeted therapy; Toxicity; targeted therapy; diagnosis; NSCLC; aptamer; biomarker discovery; SELEX
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms21176075

Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type of lung cancer worldwide, with the highest incidence in developed countries. NSCLC patients often face resistance to currently available therapies, accounting for frequent relapses and poor prognosis. Indeed, despite great recent advancements in the field of NSCLC diagnosis and multimodal therapy, most patients are diagnosed at advanced metastatic stage, with a very low overall survival. Thus, the identification of new effective diagnostic and therapeutic options for NSCLC patients is a crucial challenge in oncology. A promising class of targeting molecules is represented by nucleic-acid aptamers, short single-stranded oligonucleotides that upon folding in particular three dimensional (3D) structures, serve as high affinity ligands towards disease-associated proteins. They are produced in vitro by SELEX (systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment), a combinatorial chemistry procedure, representing an important tool for novel targetable biomarker discovery of both diagnostic and therapeutic interest. Aptamer-based approaches are promising options for NSCLC early diagnosis and targeted therapy and may overcome the key obstacles of currently used therapeutic modalities, such as the high toxicity and patients' resistance. In this review, we highlight the most important applications of SELEX technology and aptamers for NSCLC handling.