2 research outputs found
Development of Dual-Aptamers for Constructing Sandwich-Type Pancreatic Polypeptide Assay
Pancreatic
polypeptide (PP) is a specific biomarker of nonfunctional
pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NF-pNETs). Clinical significance
of PP inspires researchers to make great efforts in developing sensitive
and specific sensors. However, there is no existing biosensor for
detecting PP that combines facility and functionality. Addressing
this challenge, a pair of aptamers which could be used to develop
a sandwich assay for PP is reported. First, several high affinity
aptamers are screened through graphene oxide-based SELEX, and appropriate
dual-aptamers which could bind to different epitopes of PP are identified
through fluorescence assays. Then the feasibility of the dual-aptamers
for constructing the sandwich assay is validated via dynamic light
scattering. This sandwich assay shows considerable sensitivity and
specificity. The above results imply that the dual-aptamers have the
potential toward developing novel sensors for PP in clinical samples
Selection of Aptamers for Hydrophobic Drug Docetaxel To Improve Its Solubility
With the development of combinatorial
chemistry and high-throughput
screening, the number of hydrophobic drug candidates continues to
increase. However, the low solubility of hydrophobic drugs could induce
erratic absorption patterns and affect the drug efficacy. Aptamers
are artificially selected highly water-soluble oligonucleotides that
bind to ions, small molecules, proteins, living cells, and even tissues.
Herein, to increase the solubility of hydrophobic drug, we screened
the aptamer by exploiting DNA library immobilization selection strategy
and microfluidic technology. The highly water-soluble aptamer might
influence the dissolving capacity of its target. To demonstrate the
concept, docetaxel (DOC), a second-generation taxoid cytotoxic with
significant antitumor agent activity, was chosen as the model. It
is generally known that the clinical application of docetaxel is limited
greatly owing to its poor water solubility and serious side effects.
After seven rounds of selection, two docetaxel-specific aptamers DOC6–5
and DOC7–38, were successfully obtained, and their apparent
dissociation constants (<i>K</i><sub>d</sub>) were at nanomolar
level. Then these two 100 mer ssDNA aptamers against docetaxel were
truncated to 22 mer ones by utilizing the recognition domain. Moreover,
the shorter aptamer exhibited higher binding affinity than 100 mer
ssDNA aptamers. By adding the optimized aptamer, the solubility of
docetaxel was increased from ∼14 μM to ∼145 μM,
and the cytotoxicity of docetaxel did not reduce in the presence of
aptamer. Therefore, the aptamer was used as a solubilizer to improve
the solubility of hydrophobic drug (docetaxel) in aqueous phase. This
strategy may also be extended to other hydrophobic drugs. Meanwhile,
this work could also provide a useful tool for tumor targeting therapy
by combining with cell target ligands