Abstract
The burden of incidence rate and mortality of cancer is increasing rapidly, and the development of precise intervention measures for cancer detection and treatment will help reduce the burden and pain of cancer. At present, the sensitivity and specificity of tumor markers such as CEA and CA-125 used clinically are low, while PET, SPECT, and other imaging diagnoses with high sensitivity possess shortcomings, including long durations to obtain formal reports and the inability to identify the molecular pathological type of cancer. Cancer surgery is limited by stage and easy to recur. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy often cause damage to normal tissues, leading to evident side effects. Aptamers can selectively and exclusively bind to biomarkers and have, therefore, gained attention as ligands to be targeted for cancer detection and treatment. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are considered as promising nano carriers for cancer diagnosis and treatment due to their strong light scattering characteristics, effective biocompatibility, and easy surface modification with targeted agents. The aptamer-gold nanoparticles targeting delivery system developed herein can combine the advantages of aptamers and gold nanoparticles, and shows excellent targeting, high specificity, low immunogenicity, minor side effects, etc., which builds a bridge for cancer markers to be used in early and efficient diagnosis and precise treatment. In this review, we summarize the latest progress in the application of aptamer-modified gold nanoparticles in cancer targeted diagnosis and delivery of therapeutic agents to cancer cells and emphasize the prospects and challenges of transforming these studies into clinical applications.
1 Introduction
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and it is estimated that nearly one-sixth of the global population (approximately 10 million) have died as a consequence of the disease until 2020. The most common cancer types include breast cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer, and prostate cancer (). It is essential to perform an accurate diagnosis of cancer and take appropriate and effective treatment measures, which can greatly improve the prognosis and survival rate of cancer patients (). For several years, researchers have devoted themselves to finding additional sensitive and specific biomarkers related to cancer. However, there is still a lack of effective methods to detect cancer biomarkers. Meanwhile, to improve the effectiveness and precision of medical treatments, new therapies combined with cancer biomarkers must be developed (Zou and Wang, 2020). Therefore, it is crucial to explore the usage of such markers to diagnose diseases more accurately and use them for targeted cancer treatment.
An aptamer is an unnatural oligonucleotide consisting of 25–90 nucleotides (usually RNA or DNA), which can be folded into a complex three-dimensional structure through intramolecular interactions (). Adapters can selectively and exclusively identify various types of targets, such as proteins (), drugs (), heavy metal ions (), toxins (), and cells (). For a long time, immunological and genomic methods have dominated the detection market for tumour markers (). Aptamers have recently enticed increasing attention by reason of their unique properties. An aptamer has a binding affinity to the target, however, it is different from the immunological antibody that recognizes the target by binding antigen and antibody. Aptamers act specifically with homologous molecular targets based on its specific three-dimensional structure (). Furthermore, the volume of the adapter allows itself to be densely arranged on the sensor surface to enhance the sensitivity of the biosensor (). Ligands can not only be used as independent therapeutic agents, but also as carriers for targeted drug delivery. The specific recognition, low immunogenicity, and low cytotoxicity of aptamers can increase the drug concentration in tumour tissues and reduce side effects (Wang et al., 2022). Compared to the conventional treatment scheme for tumours, adapters can avoid the high recurrence rate of surgical resection, the systemic side effects caused by drug chemotherapy, and the cumulative radiation of radiotherapy. Aptamers also have the characteristics of simple preparation process, easy mass production, and good organizational penetration (; Xu et al., 2021). Such numerous advantages of aptamers indicate that they possess excellent applicability for the diagnosis and treatment of tumours.
In addition, with the rise of tumour nanotechnology, the efficiency of tumour diagnosis and treatment has improved. The development of new anti-tumour drugs based on gold nanoparticle (AuNPs) has become a new hot research field for tumour nanotechnology. AuNPs can not only perform functions independently at the cellular or molecular level, but also possess the ability to integrate multiple functions. Researchers used the characteristics of AuNPs to construct the aptamer-conjugated AuNPs for tumour diagnosis and treatment. An immunosensor can be made more sensitive by amplification of the signals using AuNPs after the adapter conjugates with them during the detection of cancer-specific markers (). Simultaneously, AuNPs has unique surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and adjustable surface functionality (fluorescent dyes, redox markers, and other chemical modifications can be easily carried out on AuNPs), because of which the detection results can be visualized using not only immunosensors but also computed tomography images, microscopy, and additional techniques (; ; ). For cancer treatment, the active targeting of aptamers can more accurately select target cells to assist in the controlled and continuous transfer of therapeutic molecules (drugs () and peptides ()) using AuNPs and improve the uptake of therapeutic molecules by the cells. It is worth noting that the unique photothermal conversion characteristics of AuNPs makes it a suitable photosensitizer for the photothermal treatment of colorectal cancer and additional tumours(; Wang et al., 2021). AuNPs is excited at a specific wavelength, and the vibration energy is emitted in the form of heat to destroy target cells without damaging normal tissues (). Therefore, the photothermal conversion characteristics of AuNPs can not only make the treatment of tumour using the aptamer no longer limited to targeted drug delivery, but can also kill tumour tissues through photothermal therapy. In other words, the combination of the two features can overcome the limitations of traditional tumour diagnosis and treatment.
The progress of precision medicine has provided a breakthrough for the detection of cancer targeting molecules and personalized precision therapy. In 2015, President Obama announced in his State of the Union address that the United States had launched the "Precision Medical Initiative", which promoted global attention and application research on the concept of precision medicine. Similarly, the "China Individualized Medicine Precision Medical Science Industry Alliance" was officially established in Shanghai, moving towards the integration of industry, education, and research in the field of precision medicine. A significant amount of money and energy have been invested in high-throughput genome sequencing in the early work of precision medicine (). The molecular markers discovered using sequencing technology provide a basis for precision medicine. To maximize the effectiveness of precision medicine, precise diagnosis and treatment are required. In certain basic experiments, few biomarkers that are accurate, reliable, and related to the prognosis of the disease are used as molecular targets for cancer diagnosis or treatment using adapters and AuNPs. For example, WuY et al. realized the recognition of ER2 and HER2, two cell classification markers for breast cancer, using double aptamer AuNPs (Wu et al., 2022). Ruttala HB et al. achieved combined killing of tumour cells such as MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, and DU145 by drugs and photothermal therapy through AS1411Apt AuNP-loaded anisodamine combined with infrared thermotherapy (). In vivo or in vitro experiments have fully verified the potential diagnostic function and therapeutic potential of the ligand combined with AuNPs.
The purpose of the review is to investigate the progress in the application of aptamer-modified AuNPs in cancer marker detection and targeted therapy on the basis of the characteristics and advantages of aptamers and AuNPs (Figure 1). Finally, we analyse the prospects and challenges associated with the advancement of AuNPs from the current basic research to clinical experiments, which may help achieve personalized precision medicines.
FIGURE 1
2 Superiority of aptamers as targeting ligands
Aptamers are short oligonucleotide DNA or RNA oligonucleotides formed by base pairing into three-dimensional structures. Aptamer comes from Latin words "aptus" or "aptare" (; ; ), which means a nucleotide polymer that is suitable for and can combine with the target with high specificity and affinity. For a long time, antibodies have been widely used in medical practice. Recently, the unique advantages of aptamers have challenged the role of antibodies in in vitro diagnosis and drug therapy. Nucleic acid aptamers were screened by exponential enrichment ligand phylogenetic technology (SELEX). The obtained aptamer was sequenced, characterized and identified. The qualified aptamer can be used as an excellent target molecule (; Zhang et al., 2019). Compared to antibodies, the production time of aptamers is only several hours, the production cost is low, and the difference between batches is small. A stable three-dimensional structure is the basis for an aptamer to perform the target recognition function (), which makes it different from antibodies that depend on antigen-antibody binding. Adapters can recognize the targets of proteins (), drugs(), metal ions(), toxins(), cells() and other types of substances. In addition, aptamers also have the advantages of easy modification or coupling of functional groups, strong tissue penetration, suitable thermal/chemical stability, and low immunogenicity. Therefore, aptamers having such characteristics have been used in molecular recognition elements to detect several diseases, such as using G-quadruplex to form DNA aptamers to detect SARS CoV2(). The aptamers combined with AuNPs have realized the diagnosis of breast cancer with high HER2 expression(Zhu et al., 2013). As early as 2004, Macugen ® (pegatanib) has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as the first adapter drug. Presently, various fitness-based diagnoses are also in full swing in preclinical research and clinical trials. Adapters combined with AuNPs can be used for targeted drug therapy and photothermal therapy of cervical cancer(), lung cancer(Yang Y et al., 2021), and colorectal cancer() by carrying drugs or using the optical properties of AuNPs, thereby reducing the side effects on normal tissues. In conclusion, aptamers have a wide range of physical and biochemical properties that demonstrate their potential as both diagnostic tools and therapeutic agents, and can be considered as suitable application prospects in clinical disease diagnosis and treatment.
3 Unique characterization of AuNPs and their applicability in diagnosis and treatment
Although NPs are related to modern science and technology, AuNPs has been used since Paracelsus (i.e., the founder of modern chemistry in Europe in the 16th century) prepared "drinking gold" to treat mental diseases. AuNPs refer to tiny particles of gold with a diameter between 1 and 100 nm. Among various organic and inorganic nanoparticles, the unique physical, Chemical, and biological characteristics of AuNPs provide several possibilities for disease diagnosis, drug delivery, and photothermal treatment. The optical resonance and SPR of AuNPs endow the gold particles with the ability to absorb and scatter visible light(). When AuNPs are focused on a target location, The target object can be visualized through phase contrast optical microscope, dark field microscope, photothermal imaging, and photoacoustic imaging. The strong optical scattering characteristics and relative histocompatibility of AuNPs are also used to detect tumour markers. In surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), AuNPs can amplify the Raman signal of the detection molecules several times; Thus, AuNPs are the most popular nanostructures used as sensors presently(). Under near infrared (NIR) irradiation, AuNPs show extremely strong light-heat conversion efficiency, which increases the local temperature of the tumour site, leading to apoptosis of the tumour cells that are extremely sensitive to heat(). The enhanced permeability and retention (ERP) effect of the nanoparticles increases its targeting ability by 10–100 times compared to that of small molecule drugs(). Furthermore, AuNPs also have a large body surface area, which can be used to couple biological recognition fragments (such as nucleic acid aptamers(), proteins(), antibody fragments(Veigas et al., 2019), peptides(), etc.,) to further enhance the targeting specificity or therapeutic diversity. Currently, numerous experimental results show aptamers combined with AuNPs can be applied for the diagnosis and treatment of tumours, providing a new direction for tumour-targeted therapy.
4 Aptamer-conjugated AuNPs in cancer diagnostics
There are superior aptamer-based sensors (aptasensors) to antibody-based biosensors. Specifically, aptamers are suitable for tumour diagnosis due to their stability, high affinity for the target, high specificity, and low production costs (; ). An aptamer is used as a probe to construct a nano-sensor with AuNPs that can amplify various signals, such as colorimetric (), fluorescent (), Electrochemical (Wei et al., 2018), or optical signals (Wang et al., 2020). Furthermore, AuNPs are highly X-ray absorbent and non-toxic, making them excellent contrast agents. AuNPs coupled with aptamers are highly specific, sensitive, and safe for tumour diagnosis. Therefore, they have an important application prospect for the diagnosis of tumours (Table 1).
TABLE 1
| Aptamer-AuNP | Detecting platform | Target molecule | Target disease | Target cell line | Aptamer sequence | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A 3′-thiolated RNA | Visualized by the bare eye and an optical microscope, quantitatively analyzed using stripping voltammetry | HER2 | Breast cancer | HER2-positive breast cancer cells | SE15-8, 3′-AAAAGTTGTGAGGGGAGGGAT AGGGTAGGGCACGACTAGTCAAGAAAATG-5′ | Zhu et al. (2013) |
| Aptamer-AuNP | ||||||
| PSMA Aptamer-GNP | SWV | PSA | Prostatic cancer | LNCaP cell | 5′-GGGAGGACGAUGCGGACCGAAAAAG ACCUGACUUCUAUACUAAGUCUACGUCCCAGACGACUCGCCCGACGACGACGACGACGACGACGA-3′ | |
| Aptamer (labeled with MB)-AuNP-signal probe | CT | PSA | Prostatic cancer | LNCaP cell and PC3 cell | Aptamer: 5′-SH-(CH2)6TTTTTAATTAAAGC TCGCCATCAAATAGCTTT-3′ | |
| Dual-aptamers (tAH and fAE)-GNP | FRET | ER and HER2 | Breast cancer | MCF-7 cell, SK-RB-3 cell, MDA-MB-231 cells | tAH 5′-TAMRAGCAGCGGTGTGGGGGCAG CGGTGTGGGGGCAGCGGTGTGGGG-3′, fAE 5′-FAM-CCCGGCATGGTTGCGGAGCA GGAGTATAACACTACCATTG-3′ | Wu et al. (2022) |
| AS1411 aptamers-GNP | X-ray/CT imaging | Nucleolin and MMP-14 | Cancer with high expression of nucleolin and MMP-14 | MDA-MB 231 cell | AS1411 (Integrated DNA Technologies; Coralville, IA) | |
| AptMUC1–AuNPs | GO–LDI-MS | MUC1 | Breast cancer | MCF-10A cell and MCF-7 cells | 5′-HS-TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTGCAGTTGATCC TTTGGATACCCTG G-3′ |
Apatamer-AuNP based detecting platforms for cancer diagnose.
AuNP, gold nanoparticles; HER2, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2; SWV, square wave voltammetry; PSMA, prostate specific membrane antigen; PSA, prostate specific antigen; FRET, förster resonance energy transfer; CT, computed tomography; ER, estrogen receptor; MMP-14, matrix metallo-proteinase 14; MUC1, mucin1; LDI-MS, laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry.
4.1 Hydrazine—AuNP—aptamer bioconjugate
In 10–25% of breast cancer cases, a key prognostic marker and effective therapeutic target for breast cancer is the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) (; ). A significant amount of overwhelming evidence shows that patients with HER2 positive breast cancer have a worse prognosis than those with HER2 negative breast cancer, and special form of treatment is required for HER2 positive patients (; ). For this reason, HER2 overexpression is crucial for breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. In recent years, nanomaterials (AuNPs or graphene) have been used to detect DNA and protein by combined silver deposition (; ). A reducing agent (such as hydroquinone) is used to chemically reduce silver ions on the sensor surface during these determinations, resulting in non-specific silver deposition on the sensor surface, which makes the detection unrepeatable. In order to overcome the problem of silver deposition on sensors, a new method of silver reduction without external reducing agents was proposed by Zhu et al. (2013). An electrochemical immunosensor combined with AuNPs containing hydrazine and an aptamer detected HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells. The sensor probe is prepared by covalently immobilizing the anti HER2 antibody on the nanocomposite layer. The nanocomposite layer is composed of AuNP assembled with 2,5-bis (2-thienyl) - 1H-pyrrol-1 - (p-benzoic acid) (DPB). By directly attaching the hydrazine reductant to the AuNP, non-specific silver deposition can be avoided on the sensor surface and signal enhancement is possible by selectively reducing the silver ions (Figure 2A). Using a light microscope or naked eye, silver-stained target cells can be observed easily. Thus, HER2 positive and negative breast cancer cells can be distinguished. Combined with stripping voltammetry, HER2 expressed in the cells can be quantitatively analysed. SK-BR-3 breast cancer cells can also be detected using this method in serum samples from humans, providing a simpler option for cancer cell detection.
FIGURE 2
4.2 Drug-loaded prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) aptamer AuNP bioconjugate
In a study on the targeted diagnosis of prostate cancer, Popovtzer et al. (
4.3 Prostate specific antigen (PSA) aptamer-gold nanoparticle-signal probe bioconjugates
PSA is a serum biomarker associated with prostate cancer (PCa). The PSA level of normal healthy subjects is lower than 4.0 ng/mL. In the grey area (4–10 ng/mL), the current prostate cancer detection method has reduced specificity when PSA levels are in this range (
4.4 Dual-aptamers functionalized gold nanoprobe (DA-AuNP)
In most studies on cancer diagnosis with aptamer sensors, a single cancer specific aptamer probe for a single cancer cell line is used (
4.5 AS1411 aptamer-AuNPs
Multiple functions can be integrated into one AuNP and remain in the body for a longer period of time. The effective light scattering characteristics and relative biocompatibility of AuNPs make them a natural X-ray/CT contrast agent (
4.6 AptMUC1-conjugated gold nanoparticles immobilized
In most adenocarcinomas, mucin 1 (MUC1) is overexpressed, making it an attractive target for cancer biomarkers (
5 Aptamer-conjugated AuNPs for cancer therapeutics
5.1 Drug delivery
For the treatment of malignant tumours, several drugs lack the specificity of the targeting tumour cells, causing damage to the normal cells. As a target recognition ligand, an aptamer can distinguish between normal and cancer cells. By conjugating aptamers with NPs, a drug targeting delivery system can be created (Table 2), which can selectively deliver cytotoxic drugs to tumour cells and reduce the toxic side effects on normal cells. The low toxicity, non-immunogenicity, biocompatibility, and adjustable surface functionality of AuNPs make them attractive carriers for drug delivery (
TABLE 2
| Treatment methods | Aptamer-AuNP | Target molecule | Target disease | Therapeutic agents/Physical exposure | Aptamer sequence | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drug dilivery | AS1411 aptamers | Nucleolin | Cervical cancer | C8 or IQ; Dox | AS1411 was purchased from Eurogentec(Liege, Belgium) | |
| TMPyP4 and Dox | strand1:5′-thiol-TTTTTTTTTTTCGATCGTCGATCGTCGATCG)-3′,strand2:5′-GGTGGTGGTGGTTGTGGTGGTGGGGTTTTTTCGATCGACGATCGACGATCGA-3′) | |||||
| Lung cancer | Dox and siVEGF | — | Yang Y et al. (2021) | |||
| Gastric cancer | Morin hydrate | 5′-HS-T-(C6-S-S-C6)-TTGGTGGTGGTGGTTGTGGTGGTGGTGG-3′ | ||||
| PrPC aptamer | PrPC | Colorectal cancer | Dox | 5′-HS-C6-AAAAAAAAAA-TCG-TCG-TCG-TCG-TCGTCG-TCG-CGGTGGGGCAATTTCTCCTACTGT-3′, underlined sequence is for the PrPC | ||
| AuNP–His/GST-Apt | DDR2 | Cervical cancer | BIM or EGF | anti-His aptamers: (5′-GCTATGGGTGGTCTGGTTGGGATTGGCCCCGGG AGCTGGC-A10-Thiol-3′) anti-GST aptamers: (5′-CTGCCCCGCTATAGA AC ACCCGTTGGGCAAATGTGTTCGA-A10-Thiol-3′) | ||
| Lung cancer | Peptides containing DDR2 or labeled transmembrane proximal 1/2 | — | ||||
| Photothermal therapy | Apt-AuNP-GO | MUC1 | Breast cancer | NIR | — | Yang et al. (2015) |
| Lung cancer | DOX/NIR | S2.2 aptamer: 5′-HS-GCAGTTGATCCTTTGGATACCCTG- FAM -3′ | Wang et al. (2015) | |||
| AS1411-GNP | Nucleolin | MCF-7,MDA-MB-231, DU145 cell | LND/Laser thermotherapy | 50-amino-C6 linker; NH2-5′-(GGTGGTGGTGGTTGTGGTGGTGGTGG) -3′ |
Apatamer-AuNP based detecting platforms for cancer therapeutic.
AuNP, gold nanoparticles; C8, acridine orange derivative; IQ, imiquimod; Dox, doxorubicin; TMPyP4, 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(1-methylpyridinium-4-yl) porphyrin; VEGF, the vascular endothelial growth factor; PrPC, the cellular prion protein; DDR2, discoidin domain receptor 2; EGF, epidermal growth factor; MUC1, mucin1; NIR, near-infrared; GNP, gold nanoparticles; LND, lonidamine.
5.1.1 AS1411 aptamer conjugated-gold nanoparticle
AS1411 aptamers are guanine-rich DNA nucleic acid aptamers composed of 26 nucleotides. They are non-SELEX screened nucleic acid aptamers with a G-quadruplex structure. The AS1411 aptamer has good thermal stability and no immunogenicity, can resist nuclease in serum, and shows strong stability (
5.1.1.1 Cervical cancer
In cervical cancer, one study (
FIGURE 3

Aptamer-conjugated AuNPs for cancer therapeutics. (A) Schematic Illustration of the Co-Drug-Loaded Aptamer-Functionalized Delivery Platform on the Basis of Gold Nanoparticles, reprinted with permission from(
5.1.1.2 Lung cancer
Over the past two decades, the use of gene therapy and chemotherapy have become widely popular in the field of molecular medicine. As an anthracycline-based chemotherapy drug, DOX is one of the most widely used anticancer drugs for the treatment of various types of cancer (
5.1.1.3 Gastric cancer
The microenvironment of tumours is extremely different from that of normal tissues, making them difficult to cure. The pH value of tumours is lower than that of normal tissues, which usually hinders the effectiveness of drugs (
5.1.2 Cellular prion protein (PrPC) aptamer conjugated-gold nanoparticles
PrPC is a glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol-anchored cell surface protein, which is related to a variety of cell functions (
5.1.3 AuNP–hexahistidine (His)/Glutathione S-transferase (GST)-Apt
Discoidin domain receptor 2 (DDR2), i.e., a collagen-induced receptor tyrosine kinase, has recently been identified as a novel therapeutic target for lung cancer (
5.1.3.1 Cervical cancer
Proteins play a central role in maintaining life, and the production of proteins with expression or functional disorder leads to diseased states (
5.1.3.2 Lung cancer
In the research study by DaehwanKim et al., a AuNP DNA Apt composite material was developed by coupling an anti-His tag aptamer or an anti-GST aptamer with citrate-stabilized AuNPs (15 nm in diameter) as a universal carrier for the delivery of recombinant proteins in vivo (
5.2 Photothermal therapy
Photothermal therapy is a non-invasive therapy following traditional radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgery (
5.2.1 Apt-AuNP-GO
For targeted photothermal therapy for human breast cancer (Yang et al., 2015), Apt-AuNP-GO nanocomposites combine the advantages of GO, AuNP, and aptamers. The aptamer can selectively target MUC1 positive human breast cancer cells (MCF-7). In addition, Apt-AuNP-GO has a high photothermal conversion ability for the absorption of NIR light and can exert therapeutic effects on MCF7 cells at ultra-low concentrations without causing adverse effects on healthy cells. Under NIR irradiation, this complex will eventually lead to the reduction of heat shock protein (HSP) in tumour cells, thereby inhibiting the growth of tumour cells. The combination therapy of HSP70 inhibitors can synergistically produce significant anti-tumour effects on breast cancer. This nanocomposite can easily be applied for the construction of Apt-AuNP loaded with HSP70 inhibitors, which can deliver HSP70 inhibitors to tumorigenic regions for chemical therapy. In another study conducted in the same period (Wang et al., 2015), targeted chemotherapy and photothermal therapy were integrated into a multi-functional drug delivery platform. A graphene oxide gold nanoparticle (GO-AuNP) composite modified with DNA aptamers (S2.2aptamer) was successfully synthesized. The GO-AuNP-Apt system loaded with DOX showed thermal stimulation and sustained drug release. In vitro cell toxicity tests (A549 and MCF7 cells) showed that combined therapy had the highest tumour cell mortality compared with single photothermal therapy or chemotherapy. In addition, the accumulation of aptamer-modified nanocomposites in cancer cells increased significantly. This study shows that GO-Au nanocomposites modified by aptamers may have the potential for targeted photothermal therapy and chemotherapy for cancer cells.
5.2.2 AS1411 Apt-GNP
AS1411 aptamer-bonded alloy NPs can not only be used as drug carriers, but also play a role in photothermal therapy.
6 Prospect and challenge of aptamer combined with gold nanoparticles in cancer diagnosis and treatment
The preparation technology of aptamers and AuNPs has gradually matured and has commercialized, and some clinical trials of the application of aptamers and AuNPs in cancer are registered on Clinicaltrial. Clinicaltrials (https://clinicaltrials.gov/) is a global clinical research database funded by the private and public sectors. The FDA requires clinical trial applicants to register on the Clinical trail. A unique identification code is given to each clinical study at the time of registration.
At present, there are eight clinical trials registered on Clinicaltrail on cancer and adapters, including one that has been completed. There are six items related to cancer and AuNPs, and four items have been completed. In clinical trials related to adapters, we have seen the familiar AS1411. In this paper, we found that the adaptor AS1411 plays an important role in cancer diagnosis and research. Similarly, an open randomized controlled phase II study (NCT01034410) on AS1411 combined with cytarabine for the treatment of patients with primary refractory or recurrent acute myeloid leukaemia is also in progress. In the clinical trial on AuNPs, we noticed a clinical study on the safety of NU-0129, a drug based on the spherical nucleic acid (SNA) platform, in patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme or gliosarcoma (NCT03020017). The SNA is composed of nucleic acids arranged on the surface of spherical AuNPs. Nucleic acid components can target a gene called Bcl2L129(this gene prevents tumor cells from apoptosis), thus stopping cancer cells from growing. It was further verified that AuNPs can be a good carrier for targeted therapy.
Unfortunately, we did not find any clinical trials on AuNPs and aptamers. However, it is gratifying that in the current immunosensor research on AuNPs aptamers, the detection signal has been significantly enhanced, the response range has been widened, and the detection limit has reduced. After validation in the composite biological matrix, clinical samples were also included for testing. Thus, this method can be used to detect of PSA serum samples in the hospital. These serum samples have been detected by the clinical chemiluminescence method of the hospital and the detection values have been collected. The values of the two methods did not show significant differences, indicating that the aptamer combined with nanocrystal detection system can be used for actual sample analysis (
7 Conclusion
The use of nucleic acid aptamers for the treatment of diseases began in 1990. RNA with targeted trans response (TAR) sequences acts as "bait" and can prevent trans-activating proteins from binding to endogenous TAR RNA, thereby inhibiting the expression and replication of HIV genes (
AuNPs have strong interaction ability with visible light for detecting tumour cells. Under the application of light, free electrons in gold atoms are excited to a collective oscillating state called surface plasmon resonance (SPR), which endow AuNPs with the ability to absorb and scatter visible light. AuNPs combined with aptamers can target tumour cells, and they can be good labels. SERS imaging is performed based on the optical scattering characteristics of AuNPs. In SERS technology, the Raman signals are amplified several times by the ligand AuNP near the molecule (
For the treatment of tumours, researchers have constructed targeted delivery vectors for various chemotherapy drugs, siRNA, and polypeptides using aptamer AuNPs. In terms of cancer chemotherapy, the common problems of chemotherapy drugs include non-specific cytotoxicity to normal cells, low tumour cohesion, and drug resistance (
In conclusion, in the current state, many preliminary basic experiments have proved the advantages and prospects of aptamer AuNPs in tumour detection and treatment. Although registered clinical trials on aptamer binding AuNPs are still in the starting stage, some basic studies have included clinical samples for verification. It is believed that research on aptamer AuNPs will make more progress, and the research results will be transformed and applied to the laboratory, for imaging diagnosis, and in clinical precision treatment.
Statements
Author contributions
Conceptualization, YZ, HZ, GD, and HL; writing—original draft writing, GD and HL; writing—review and editing, HZ, YZ, GD, and HL; supervision, YZ. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
This work was supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (Grant Number 81760475), Zunyi Science and Technology Bureau (Grant Number HZ (2019) 147 and 173), 2021 Provincial Key Medical Discipline construction project of Guizhou Provincial Health Commission, Innovation Group Project provided by Education Department of Guizhou Province (Grant Number QianJiaoheKYzi (2021)019), and Guizhou High-level (BAI) Innovative Talents Project (QIANKehe Platform & Talents-GCC (2022) 042–1).
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the support provided by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (Grant Number 81760475). The authors acknowledge Chen Ling for her academic advice.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Publisher’s note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Supplementary material
The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2023.1118546/full#supplementary-material
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Summary
Keywords
aptamer, gold nanoparticles, cancer diagnosis, cancer targeted, therapy
Citation
Deng G, Zha H, Luo H and Zhou Y (2023) Aptamer-conjugated gold nanoparticles and their diagnostic and therapeutic roles in cancer. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. 11:1118546. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1118546
Received
07 December 2022
Accepted
04 January 2023
Published
19 January 2023
Volume
11 - 2023
Edited by
Zhang Yuan, Polytechnical University, China
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© 2023 Deng, Zha, Luo and Zhou.
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*Correspondence: Yi Zhou, 1322995029@qq.com
† These authors have contributed equally to this work
This article was submitted to Biomaterials, a section of the journal Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
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