Massive Identification of Cancer-Specific Nucleic Acid Ligands.

Lee,  Young Ju; Lee,  Seong Wook

Genomics Inform > Volume 3(2); 2005 > Article

Brief Communication

Genomics & Informatics 2005;3(2): 77-80.

Massive Identification of Cancer-Specific Nucleic Acid Ligands.

Department of Molecular Biology, Institute of Nanosensor and Biotechnology, Dankook University, Seoul 140-714, Korea. SWL0208@dankook.ac.kr

Abstract

Targeting of complex system such as human cells rather than biochemically pure molecules will be a useful approach to massively identify ligands specific for the markers associated with human disease such as cancer and simultaneously discover the specific molecular markers. In this study, we developed in vitro selection method to identify nuclease-resistant nucleic acid ligands called RNA aptamers that are specific for human cancer cells. This method is based on the combination of the cell-based selection and subtractive systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) method. These aptamers will be useful for cancer-specific ligands for proteomic research to identify cancer-specific molecular markers as well as tumor diagnosis and therapy.

Keywords: cancer; proteomics; RNA aptamers; SELEX