Phototoxic aptamers selectively enter and kill epithelial cancer cells.

ABSTRACT: The majority of cancers arise from malignant epithelial cells. We report the design of synthetic oligonucleotides (aptamers) that are only internalized by epithelial cancer cells and can be precisely activated by light to kill such cells. Specifically, phototoxic DNA aptamers were selected to bind to unique short O-glycan-peptide signatures on the surface of breast, colon, lung, ovarian and pancreatic cancer cells. These surface antigens are not present on normal epithelial cells but are internalized and routed through endosomal and Golgi compartments by cancer cells, thus providing a focused mechanism for their intracellular delivery. When modified at their 5' end with the photodynamic therapy agent chlorin e(6) and delivered to epithelial cancer cells, these aptamers exhibited a remarkab

SUBMITTER: Ferreira CS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2647295 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature