Title:Aptamer-guided Selective Delivery of Therapeutics to Breast Cancer Cells
Expressing Specific Biomarkers
Volume: 20
Issue: 5
Author(s): Swaroop Kumar Pandey*, Mradula Parul and Manikandan Santhanam
Affiliation:
- Department of Biotechnology, GLA University, Mathura, 281406, India
Keywords:
Breast cancer, therapeutics, nanocarriers, drugs, aptamers, biomarkers.
Abstract: Cancer biomarkers or tumor-associated antigens (TAA) are the focus area of current research
in cancer biology for diagnosis, prognosis, screening, and targeted treatments. Breast cancer is
the second most common type of cancer, affecting women more than men. Conventional methods and
antibody-targeted therapies are less effective and suffer systemic cytotoxicity, poor tissue sensitivity,
low penetration capacity, and reduced accumulation of the drug in tumor cells that limit its application
and sometimes result in treatment failure. Opting for aptamer-mediated targeted delivery of various
anti-cancer agents (drugs, siRNA, miRNA, shRNA and peptides) could possibly overcome these
limitations by utilizing aptamer as a targeting ligand. The purpose of this article is to review the novel
indicative biomarkers of breast cancer and also describe current applications of aptamer-guided active
targeting systems in breast cancer therapy in vivo and in vitro.