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Development and classification of RNA aptamers for therapeutic purposes: an updated review with emphasis on cancer

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Abstract

Today, RNA aptamers are being considered promising theranostic tools against a wide variety of disorders. RNA aptamers can fold into complex shapes and bind to diverse nanostructures, macromolecules, cells, and viruses. It is possible to isolate RNA aptamers from a vast pool of nucleic acids via the Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment (SELEX) method. As therapeutics, aptamers have great potential because of their ability to bind to proteins and selectively limit their activities with negligible side effects. Several RNA aptamers with potential implications in cancer diagnosis are known to confer a great affinity for single-stranded DNA molecules, long non-coding RNAs, circulating tumor cells, vascular endothelial growth factors, and tissue and sera-derived exosomes in patients with different malignancies. Furthermore, clinical investigations have revealed the efficacy of RNA aptamer-based agents in imaging modalities. This review seeks to deliver new insights into the development, classification, nanomerization, and modification of RNA aptamers, as well as their applications in cancer theranostics. The aptamers’ mechanism of action and their interest to clinical trials as theranostic agents are also discussed.

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Author notes

  1. Mahtab Razlansari and Somayeh Jafarinejad have Equally contributed to this study.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Inorganic Chemistry Department, Faculty of Chemistry, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran

    Mahtab Razlansari

  2. Finetech in Medicine Research Center, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 1449614535, Iran

    Somayeh Jafarinejad

  3. Department of Physics, University of Zabol, P. O. Box. 98613-35856, Zabol, Iran

    Abbas rahdar

  4. Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Milad Shirvaliloo

  5. Faculty of Pharmacy, The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan

    Rabia Arshad

  6. Department of Advanced Sciences and Technologies in Medicine, School of Medicine, North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences, Bojnurd, Iran

    Sonia Fathi-Karkan

  7. Department of Medical Nanotechnology, Faculty of Advanced Medical Science, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Sonia Fathi-Karkan

  8. Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Research Institute of Cellular and Molecular Sciences in Infectious Diseases, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, 9816743463, Iran

    Shekoufeh Mirinejad & Saman Sargazi

  9. Pharmacology Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, 9816743463, Iran

    Roghayeh Sheervalilou

  10. Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, 1417935840, Iran

    Narges Ajalli

  11. Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Science, Yeungnam University, 280 Daehak-Ro, Gyeongsan, Gyeongbuk, 38541, Republic of Korea

    Sadanand Pandey

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Contributions

Conceptualization, SS; writing-original draft preparation, MR, SJ, RA, RS, SS, and SM; writing-review and editing, SS, AR, MS, SF-K, SP; supervision, SS, RS, SP. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Saman Sargazi, Roghayeh Sheervalilou or Sadanand Pandey.

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Razlansari, M., Jafarinejad, S., rahdar, A. et al. Development and classification of RNA aptamers for therapeutic purposes: an updated review with emphasis on cancer. Mol Cell Biochem 478, 1573–1598 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11010-022-04614-x

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