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In Vitro Selection of a DNA Aptamer by Cell-SELEX as a Molecular Probe for Cervical Cancer Recognition and Imaging

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Abstract

Aptamers have become the most promising recognition reagents in terms of early diagnosis and effective treatment of cancers. In this study, using cervical cancer as a model, we have identified a DNA aptamer specifically binding to cervical cancer cells with high affinity using the cell-SELEX (systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment) method, in which a negative selection was carried out using normal epithelial cells as control. The binding abilities of 6 selected truncated aptamers were determined by laser confocal fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry, while most of them only recognize the target cells and do not bind the control cells, and the aptamer C-9S with 51-mer shows the best binding affinity to Ca Ski cells (target cells) with a dissociation constant value of 19.3 ± 2.9 nM. Moreover, at physiological temperature, C-9S remains its specific recognition capability to Ca Ski cells as well. Meanwhile, C-9S shows a similar binding ability to another cervical cancer cells (HeLa). Therefore, on the basis of its excellent targeting properties and inherent functional versatility of aptamer, C-9S holds great potential to be a molecular probe for early detection, in vivo imaging, and targeted delivery for further researches in cancer.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21775160, 21575154), the International Partnership Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. 121E32KYSB20170025), the Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Nos. BE2016680, BK20161262, BE2018665, EK20180250), and the Jiangsu Province Six Talent Peaks program for financial support.

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Author notes

  1. Jine Wang and Tian Gao have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Nano-Bio Interface, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou, 215123, China

    Jine Wang, Tian Gao, Yu Luo, Zhili Wang, Yajie Zhang, Ye Zhang & Renjun Pei

  2. School of Nano Technology and Nano Bionics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Tian Gao, Zhili Wang & Renjun Pei

  3. School of Life Science, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230032, China

    Yuanyuan Zhang

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  1. Jine Wang
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  2. Tian Gao
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  3. Yu Luo
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  4. Zhili Wang
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  6. Ye Zhang
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Correspondence to Yuanyuan Zhang or Renjun Pei.

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Wang, J., Gao, T., Luo, Y. et al. In Vitro Selection of a DNA Aptamer by Cell-SELEX as a Molecular Probe for Cervical Cancer Recognition and Imaging. J Mol Evol 87, 72–82 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-019-9886-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-019-9886-8

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