Study of Aptamer for Cancer Therapeutics

Abstract

In this thesis, the use of aptamers in cancer therapy was investigated in four subprojects. Firstly, a sensitive and facile gold nanoparticle based assay [with a detection limit of 8 nM mucin 1 (MUC1) peptide] was developed for peptide-aptamer affinity analysis. Secondly, MUC1 targeting aptamer was modified with polyethylene glycol to avoid macrophage uptake. Thirdly, MUC1 targeting aptamer was modified to form tridentate aptamer to increase specificity toward MUC1 overexpressing breast cancer cells as compared to macrophages. Doxorubicin (DOX) was then intercalated within the modified aptamers, and the drug-aptamer complexes used for targeted drug delivery to breast cancer cells. Through these modifications, around 6-fold increase in macrophage viability (as compared to when free DOX was used) was achieved. Finally, various newly reported affinity ligands were assessed for their potential uses in bladder cancer drug delivery.