Aptamer-based drug delivery for targeted therapy of imatinib-resistant gastrointestinal stromal tumor.

ABSTRACT: Rationale: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), the most common mesenchymal tumors of the gastrointestinal tract, are primarily driven by activating mutations in the KIT intracellular segment. The standard treatment with imatinib frequently results in acquired resistance due to secondary mutations. Besides mutations, KIT is also overexpressed in GIST. An aptamer that specifically binds to the extracellular segment of KIT (unaffected by these mutations) was promising in drug delivery and may overcome imatinib resistance. Methods: The microtubule inhibitor VcMMAE (mc-vc-PAB-MMAE) was conjugated with an optimized KIT-targeting aptamer (KIT-d) to generate an aptamer-drug conjugate (ApDC) named KIT-d-MMAE. This ApDC was then evaluated for its binding specificity, internalizatio

SUBMITTER: Pan T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12439145 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature