Cancer theranostics integrate molecular diagnosis and targeted cancer therapy, promoting the transition from traditional medicine to personalized and precision medicine. Nucleic acids, comprising of DNA and RNA, are the biological molecules that initiate the central dogma of life. They are able to replicate in DNA, transcribe in RNA, and translate in proteins. Nucleic acids, such as DNA, mRNA, and non-coding RNAs, are playing vital roles as targeting, diagnostic or therapeutic agents for cancer theranostics. Hence, nucleic acids provide the potential for highly selective treatment of a wide set of cancers, for example, by modulating the gene expression with RNA interference or expressing therapeutically active proteins with gene vectors. However, despite the tremendous advances, a pivotal issue is still impeding the ultimate successful application of nucleic acid therapies in clinical practice: the availability of a suitable delivery and monitoring system. Recently, there is a growing interest in the nucleic acid composites and their biomedical applications due to their specificity, programmable, arbitrarily-shaped nanoarchitectures and inherent well-biocompatibility. With the rapid development of nanotechnology, nucleic acids are widely used in various medical and genetic engineering fields of drug delivery, drug modeling, biosensing, bioimaging and cancer treatment.
This Research Topic focuses on the development of nucleic acids and their biomedical application in cancer diagnosis, therapy and imaging. This Topics accepts not only original research articles but also review articles showing recent progress in this field.
We will create a comprehensive discussion forum for various nucleic acids as theranostic agents involving in different types of cancer. Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:
• Aptamer as theranostic agents for cancer treatment
• DNAzymes as theranostic agents for cancer treatment
• DNA-based nanomachines for cancer theranostics
• mRNA-based gene and cell therapy in cancer
• Novel viral and non-viral vectors for nucleic acids delivery
• Novel genetic circuits or pathways for cancer theranostics
• Cellular and in vivo imaging of RNA
• The mechanisms of non-coding RNAs in cancer treatment
Cancer theranostics integrate molecular diagnosis and targeted cancer therapy, promoting the transition from traditional medicine to personalized and precision medicine. Nucleic acids, comprising of DNA and RNA, are the biological molecules that initiate the central dogma of life. They are able to replicate in DNA, transcribe in RNA, and translate in proteins. Nucleic acids, such as DNA, mRNA, and non-coding RNAs, are playing vital roles as targeting, diagnostic or therapeutic agents for cancer theranostics. Hence, nucleic acids provide the potential for highly selective treatment of a wide set of cancers, for example, by modulating the gene expression with RNA interference or expressing therapeutically active proteins with gene vectors. However, despite the tremendous advances, a pivotal issue is still impeding the ultimate successful application of nucleic acid therapies in clinical practice: the availability of a suitable delivery and monitoring system. Recently, there is a growing interest in the nucleic acid composites and their biomedical applications due to their specificity, programmable, arbitrarily-shaped nanoarchitectures and inherent well-biocompatibility. With the rapid development of nanotechnology, nucleic acids are widely used in various medical and genetic engineering fields of drug delivery, drug modeling, biosensing, bioimaging and cancer treatment.
This Research Topic focuses on the development of nucleic acids and their biomedical application in cancer diagnosis, therapy and imaging. This Topics accepts not only original research articles but also review articles showing recent progress in this field.
We will create a comprehensive discussion forum for various nucleic acids as theranostic agents involving in different types of cancer. Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:
• Aptamer as theranostic agents for cancer treatment
• DNAzymes as theranostic agents for cancer treatment
• DNA-based nanomachines for cancer theranostics
• mRNA-based gene and cell therapy in cancer
• Novel viral and non-viral vectors for nucleic acids delivery
• Novel genetic circuits or pathways for cancer theranostics
• Cellular and in vivo imaging of RNA
• The mechanisms of non-coding RNAs in cancer treatment
