AsianScientist (Dec. 21, 2017) – A group of researchers from the School of Chinese Medicine (SCM) of Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) have developed a new generation of smart anti-cancer drug molecules made from RNA linked to an anticancer drug. They published their findings in Nature Communications.
The toxic nature of chemotherapy drugs poses a great challenge to the treatment of cancer. This is because most chemotherapy drugs do not distinguish cancer cells from normal cells, hence both are damaged during treatment. This not only limits the therapeutic effect of chemotherapy drugs but also causes unpleasant side effects in patients.
In this study, a team of scientists led by the Dean of SCM at HKBU, Professor Lyu Aiping, connected aptamers—single strand oligonucleotides that form three-dimensional structures and bind to specific cell types or proteins—to a plant-derived cytotoxic drug to specifically destroy cancer cells without harming normal cells. Aptamers have been widely used for targeted drug delivery of small molecules and small interfering RNAs due to their advantages, such as good water solubility, low immunogenicity, high permeability and stability.
The researchers used an aptamer that homes in on nucleolin, a target found on the surface of ovarian cancer cells. The drug attached to the aptamer was paclitaxel. They demonstrated that their tumor-specific aptamer-drug conjugate had good water solubility and specifically carried paclitaxel to cancerous ovarian tissue.
By enhancing the delivery of drugs via body fluid to the different parts of the human body, the researchers observed stronger therapeutic outcomes with fewer side effects. The team has submitted a patent application to China for the molecules.
The article can be found at: Li et al. (2017) A Water-Soluble Nucleolin Aptamer-Paclitaxel Conjugate for Tumor-Specific Targeting in Ovarian Cancer.
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Source: Hong Kong Baptist University.
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