Title:Aptamer-based Advances in Skin Cancer Research
Volume: 30
Issue: 8
Author(s): Adrianna Maria Piasek, Paulina Musolf and Anna Sobiepanek*
Affiliation:
- Laboratory of Biomolecular Interactions Studies, Faculty of Chemistry, Warsaw University of Technology,
Warsaw, Poland
Keywords:
Skin cancers, biomarkers, aptamers, biophysical methods, imaging methods, diagnostic, probes.
Abstract: Cancer diseases have been one of the biggest health threats for the last two
decades. Approximately 9% of all diagnosed cancers are skin cancers, including melanoma
and non-melanoma. In all cancer cases, early diagnosis is essential to achieve efficient
treatment. New solutions and advanced techniques for rapid diagnosis are constantly being
sought. Aptamers are single-stranded RNA or DNA synthetic sequences or peptides,
which offer novel possibilities to this area of research by specifically binding selected
molecules, the so-called cancer biomarkers. Nowadays, they are widely used as diagnostic
probes in imaging and targeted therapy. In this review, we have summarized the recently
made advances in diagnostics and treatment of skin cancers, which have been achieved by
combining aptamers with basic or modern technologies.