A Synthetic Aptamer-Drug Adduct for Targeted Liver Cancer Therapy

PLoS One. 2015 Nov 2;10(11):e0136673. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0136673. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

AS1411 (previously known as AGRO100) is a 26 nucleotide guanine-rich DNA aptamer which forms a guanine quadruplex structure. AS1411 has shown promising utility as a treatment for cancers in Phase I and Phase II clinical trials without causing major side-effects. AS1411 inhibits tumor cell growth by binding to nucleolin which is aberrantly expressed on the cell membrane of many tumors. In this study, we utilized a simple technique to conjugate a widely-used chemotherapeutic agent, doxorubicin (Dox), to AS1411 to form a synthetic Drug-DNA Adduct (DDA), termed as AS1411-Dox. We demonstrate the utility of AS1411-Dox in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by evaluating the targeted delivery of Dox to Huh7 cells in vitro and in a murine xenograft model of HCC.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antineoplastic Agents / administration & dosage*
  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology
  • Aptamers, Nucleotide
  • Cell Cycle / drug effects
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Proliferation / drug effects
  • Doxorubicin / administration & dosage*
  • Doxorubicin / pharmacology
  • Humans
  • Liver Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Mice
  • Oligodeoxyribonucleotides / administration & dosage*
  • Oligodeoxyribonucleotides / pharmacology
  • Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays

Substances

  • AGRO 100
  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Aptamers, Nucleotide
  • Oligodeoxyribonucleotides
  • Doxorubicin