Aptamer‐targeted DNA nanostructures with doxorubicin to treat protein tyrosine kinase 7‐positive tumours

OBJECTIVES: Aptamer sgc8c is a short DNA sequence that can target protein tyrosine kinase 7 (PTK7), which was overexpressed on many tumour cells. This study aimed to fabricate a novelty DNA nanostructure drug delivery system target on PTK7‐positive cells—CCRF‐CEM (human T‐cell ALL). METHODS: Aptamer‐modified tetrahedron DNA was synthesized through one‐step thermal annealing process. The sgc8c‐TDNs (s‐TDNs) loading DOX complexes were applied to investigate the effect to PTK7‐negative and ‐positive cells. RESULTS: When s‐TDN:DOX acted on PTK7‐positive and ‐negative cells respectively, the complexes exhibited specific toxic effect on PTK7‐positive cells but not on PTK7‐negative Ramos cells in vitro research. CONCLUSIONS: In this work, we successfully constructed a PTK7‐targeting aptamer‐guided DNA tetrahedral nanostructure (s‐TDN) as a drug delivery system via a facile one‐pot synthesis method. The results showed that s‐TDN:DOX exhibited enhanced cytotoxicity against PTK7‐positive CCRF‐CEM cells, with a minor effect against PTK7‐negative Ramos cells. Hence, this functionalized TDNs drug delivery system displayed its potential application in targeting PTK7‐positive tumour T‐cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.