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Handali S, Rezaei M. Aptamer-decorated nanocarriers for viral adsorption: A special look at COVID-19. MOLECULAR THERAPY. NUCLEIC ACIDS 2024; 35:102310. [PMID: 39281706 PMCID: PMC11401170 DOI: 10.1016/j.omtn.2024.102310] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/18/2024]
Abstract
Viral infections are one of the leading causes of death in the world. One main challenge in fighting against these diseases is the unavailability of effective eradicating drugs and specific treatments. Nanocarriers and aptamer-decorated nanocarriers are designed to attach to many targets, including viral particles. By lowering the viral infectivity and attachment capability, they add therapeutic values even without containing antiviral drugs. Nevertheless, the nanoparticles (NPs) with encapsulated antiviral drugs can display extra therapeutic effects. Furthermore, it has been shown that aptamers can bind to viral particles and nanocarriers, presenting promising approaches for the identification of viruses and treatment of viral infections. Although there is no satisfying literature revealing the strong therapeutic potential of nanotechnology against COVID-19, the following information can provide new perspectives for upcoming investigations pertaining to developing effective aptamer-nanocarrier agents against COVID-19.
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Affiliation(s)
- Somayeh Handali
- Medical Biomaterials Research Center (MBRC), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Mohsen Rezaei
- Department of Toxicology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
- Institute for Natural Products and Medicinal Plants (INPMP), Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
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Requena MD, Yan A, Llanga T, Sullenger BA. Reversible Aptamer Staining, Sorting, and Cleaning of Cells (Clean FACS) with Antidote Oligonucleotide or Nuclease Yields Fully Responsive Cells. Nucleic Acid Ther 2024; 34:12-17. [PMID: 38285522 PMCID: PMC11302193 DOI: 10.1089/nat.2023.0050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2023] [Accepted: 11/13/2023] [Indexed: 01/31/2024] Open
Abstract
The ability to reverse the binding of aptamers to their target proteins has received considerable attention for developing controllable therapeutic agents. Recently, use of aptamers as reversible cell-sorting ligands has also sparked interest. Antibodies are currently utilized for isolating cells expressing a particular cell surface receptor. The inability to remove antibodies from isolated cells following sorting greatly limits their utility for many applications. Previously, we described how a particular aptamer-antidote oligonucleotide pair can isolate cells and clean them. Here, we demonstrate that this approach is generalizable; aptamers can simultaneously recognize more than one cell type during fluorescent activated cell sorting (FACS). Moreover, we describe a novel approach to reverse aptamer binding following cell sorting using a nuclease. This alternative strategy represents a cleaning approach that does not require the generation of antidote oligonucleotides for each aptamer and will greatly reduce the cost and expand the utility of Clean FACS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin D. Requena
- Department of Surgery, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
- University Program in Genetics and Genomics, and Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
| | - Amy Yan
- Department of Surgery, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
| | - Telmo Llanga
- Department of Surgery, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
- Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
| | - Bruce A. Sullenger
- Department of Surgery, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
- University Program in Genetics and Genomics, and Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
- Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
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Nagano M, Kubota K, Sakata A, Nakamura R, Yoshitomi T, Wakui K, Yoshimoto K. A neutralizable dimeric anti-thrombin aptamer with potent anticoagulant activity in mice. MOLECULAR THERAPY. NUCLEIC ACIDS 2023; 33:762-772. [PMID: 37621412 PMCID: PMC10445101 DOI: 10.1016/j.omtn.2023.07.038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2023] [Accepted: 07/31/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023]
Abstract
Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is a complication caused by administration of the anticoagulant heparin. Although the number of patients with HIT has drastically increased because of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the currently used thrombin inhibitors for HIT therapy do not have antidotes to arrest the severe bleeding that occurs as a side effect; therefore, establishment of safer treatments for HIT patients is imperative. Here, we devised a potent thrombin inhibitor based on bivalent aptamers with a higher safety profile via combination with the antidote. Using an anti-thrombin DNA aptamer M08s-1 as a promising anticoagulant, its homodimer and heterodimer with TBA29 linked by a conformationally flexible linker or a rigid duplex linker were designed. The dimerized M08s-1-based aptamers had about 100-fold increased binding affinity to human and mouse thrombin compared with the monomer counterparts. Administration of these bivalent aptamers into mice revealed that the anticoagulant activity of the dimers significantly surpassed that of an approved drug for HIT treatment, argatroban. Moreover, adding protamine sulfate as an antidote against the most potent bivalent aptamer completely suppressed the anticoagulant activity of the dimer. Emerging potent and neutralizable anticoagulant aptamers will be promising candidates for HIT treatment with a higher safety profile.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masanobu Nagano
- Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan
| | - Kazuki Kubota
- Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan
| | - Asuka Sakata
- Medicinal Biology of Thrombosis and Hemostasis, Nara Medical University, 840 Shijo-cho, Kashihara, Nara 634-8521, Japan
| | - Rei Nakamura
- Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan
| | - Toru Yoshitomi
- Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan
| | - Koji Wakui
- Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan
| | - Keitaro Yoshimoto
- Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan
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Zaman K, Breitman A, Malik I, Fortenberry YM. Positive Allosteric Modulation of Antithrombin's Inhibitory Activity by RNA Aptamers. Nucleic Acid Ther 2023; 33:277-286. [PMID: 37093131 DOI: 10.1089/nat.2022.0047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/25/2023] Open
Abstract
The leading cause of death in adults in the United States is cardiovascular disease, with mortality and morbidity mainly attributed to thromboembolism. Heparin is the most common therapy used for treating venous and arterial thrombosis. Heparin effectively accelerates the inhibition of coagulation proteases thrombin and factor Xa through the serine protease inhibitor (serpin) antithrombin (AT). Heparin is an essential therapeutic anticoagulant because of its effectiveness and the availability of protamine sulfate as an antidote. However, heparin therapy has several limitations. Thus, new anticoagulants, including direct thrombin inhibitors (ie, argatroban) and low-molecular-weight heparins (ie, fondaparinux), are used to treat some thromboembolic disorders. We developed and characterized a family of novel RNA-based aptamers that bind AT using two novel selection schemes. One of the aptamers, AT-16, accelerates factor Xa inhibition by AT in the absence of heparin. AT-16's effect on thrombin inhibition by AT is less effective compared to factor Xa. AT-16 induces a conformational change in AT that is different from that induced by heparin. This study demonstrates that an AT-specific RNA aptamer, AT-16, exhibits a positive allosteric modulator effect on AT's inhibition of factor Xa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Khalequz Zaman
- Biology Department, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
| | - Adi Breitman
- Biology Department, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
| | - Isa Malik
- Biology Department, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
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Song X, Yu H, Sullenger C, Gray BP, Yan A, Kelly L, Sullenger B. An Aptamer That Rapidly Internalizes into Cancer Cells Utilizes the Transferrin Receptor Pathway. Cancers (Basel) 2023; 15:cancers15082301. [PMID: 37190227 DOI: 10.3390/cancers15082301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2023] [Revised: 04/08/2023] [Accepted: 04/12/2023] [Indexed: 05/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Strategies to direct drugs specifically to cancer cells have been increasingly explored, and significant progress has been made toward such targeted therapy. For example, drugs have been conjugated into tumor-targeting antibodies to enable delivery directly to tumor cells. Aptamers are an attractive class of molecules for this type of drug targeting as they are high-affinity/high-specificity ligands, relatively small in size, GMP manufacturable at a large-scale, amenable to chemical conjugation, and not immunogenic. Previous work from our group revealed that an aptamer selected to internalize into human prostate cancer cells, called E3, can also target a broad range of human cancers but not normal control cells. Moreover, this E3 aptamer can deliver highly cytotoxic drugs to cancer cells as Aptamer-highly Toxic Drug Conjugates (ApTDCs) and inhibit tumor growth in vivo. Here, we evaluate its targeting mechanism and report that E3 selectively internalizes into cancer cells utilizing a pathway that involves transferrin receptor 1 (TfR 1). E3 binds to recombinant human TfR 1 with high affinity and competes with transferrin (Tf) for binding to TfR1. In addition, knockdown or knockin of human TfR1 results in a decrease or increase in E3 cell binding. Here, we reported a molecular model of E3 binding to the transferrin receptor that summarizes our findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xirui Song
- Department of Surgery, Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC 27710, USA
- Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Haixiang Yu
- Department of Surgery, Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | | | - Bethany Powell Gray
- Department of Surgery, Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC 27710, USA
- Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Amy Yan
- Department of Surgery, Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Linsley Kelly
- Department of Surgery, Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Bruce Sullenger
- Department of Surgery, Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC 27710, USA
- Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC 27710, USA
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Yu H, Frederiksen J, Sullenger BA. Applications and future of aptamers that achieve rapid-onset anticoagulation. RNA (NEW YORK, N.Y.) 2023; 29:455-462. [PMID: 36697262 PMCID: PMC10019365 DOI: 10.1261/rna.079503.122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
In this short Perspective, we discuss the history of, and recent progress toward, the development of aptamers that can serve as rapid onset anticoagulants during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), and catheter-based diagnostic and interventional procedures, several million of which are performed each year worldwide. Aptamer anticoagulants provide potent and antidote-controllable anticoagulation and have low immunogenicity. New methods of aptamer isolation and engineering have not only improved the quality of aptamers, but also accelerated their development. Unfortunately, no aptamer identified to date can produce an anticoagulant effect as potent as that produced by unfractionated heparin (UFH), the standard anticoagulant for CPB. We have suggested several possible strategies to amplify the anticoagulant potency of existing aptamer anticoagulants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haixiang Yu
- Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA
| | - James Frederiksen
- Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA
| | - Bruce A Sullenger
- Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA
- Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA
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