Aptamers as Diagnostic Tools in Cancer

Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Researchers have been working hard on investigating not only improved therapeutics but also on early detection methods, both critical to increasing treatment efficacy, and developing methods for disease prevention. The use of nucleic acids, or aptamers, has emerged as more specific and accurate cancer diagnostic and therapeutic tools. Aptamers are single-stranded DNA or RNA molecules that recognize specific targets based on unique three-dimensional conformations. Despite the fact aptamer development has been mainly restricted to laboratory settings, the unique attributes of these molecules suggest their high potential for clinical advances in cancer detection. Aptamers can be selected for a wide range of targets, and also linked with an extensive variety of diagnostic agents, via physical or chemical conjugation, to improve previously-established detection methods or to be used as novel biosensors for cancer diagnosis. Consequently, herein we review the principal considerations and recent updates in cancer detection and imaging through aptamer-based molecules.