核酸适配体在靶向药物传递中的研究进展

抗癌药物的毒副作用限制了其临床应用,纳米药物载体可实现药物在病灶部位的聚集而不影响正常组织,从而降低药物毒副作用.在药物载体表面修饰靶向配体,以提高药物载体主动靶向进入到细胞的能力,可有效地将药物释放到靶细胞,大大提高药效.核酸适配体(aptamer)作为一种新型的靶向分子,近几年已被运用到靶向药物传递的研究中.本文介绍了几种适配体靶向载药体系,如适配体-药物、适配体-脂质体、适配体-聚合物胶束、适配体-聚合物纳米颗粒、适配体-金属颗粒以及适配体-支化聚合物等载药体系,并对当前研究的热点以及存在的问题和不足进行了评述.     

核酸适配子在医学中的应用研究

核酸适配子与其靶物质的结合过程类似于抗原抗体反应,凡涉及抗体的领域几乎都可以用核酸适配子代替。与抗体相比核酸适配子具有稳定性好、易于人工合成和修饰、靶分子范围更广、与靶物质结合的特异性和敏感性更强等优点。近年来,核酸适配子已广泛应用于药物研发、基础医学研究、疾病诊断、临床治疗等方面。     

双分子荧光互补技术在动物病毒中的研究进展

病毒侵染宿主的过程存在着一系列相互作用,了解病毒与宿主之间的蛋白质相互作用对于深入研究病毒具有重要意义。在众多研究蛋白质相互作用的方法中,双分子荧光互补技术（bimolecular fluorescence complementation,BiFC）因其能在活细胞中可视化相互作用而被广泛应用。介绍了双分子荧光技术的原理、发展和优势,总结了双分子荧光技术在动物病毒以及抗病毒药物研究中的应用,并进一步阐述了新型双分子荧光系统的原理,以期为研究动物病毒致病机制和抗病毒药物研发提供新的思路。     

核酸适配体技术及其在肿瘤诊断和治疗中的应用

核酸适配体是一类通过指数富集的配体系统进化（SELEX）技术获得的具有独特三维构象的小分子RNA 或单链DNA。核酸适 配体能高亲和力和高特异性与靶点结合,同时具有自身分子质量小、免疫原性低、热/化学稳定性高、靶标分子范围广等特点,广泛应用 于疾病诊断、治疗、生物传感器、生物标志物筛选、新药研发等领域。综述近年来核酸适配体在肿瘤诊断和治疗方面的应用,并对核酸 适配体的临床研究现状、市场前景及面临挑战和发展趋势作简要分析。     

靶向Ras信号通路抑制剂在肿瘤治疗中的研究进展

Ras信号通路在肿瘤的发生发展中有着重要作用,该通路与肿瘤细胞的增殖、转移、凋亡等关系密切,但目前没有确定的靶向药物在临床上使用。近年来,靶向Ras信号通路的抑制剂研究火热,并且在临床试验中取得了很好疗效。该文围绕着Ras信号通路,重点介绍了Ras信号通路与肿瘤的关系、靶向Ras信号上下游的抑制剂、针对Ras蛋白的共价抑制剂研发进展以及联合用药策略,总结了相关抑制剂的最新进展。该文指出了靶向Ras信号通路面临的诸多挑战,改进抑制剂的结构、明确具体机制以及联合治疗策略将是未来研究大方向。     

自噬在阿尔茨海默症治疗中的研究进展

自噬(autophagy)是生物体活细胞用来维持自身平衡稳定的一个保守进程。已有研究表明,自噬与阿尔茨海默症(Alzheimer’s disease,AD)密切相关,并可能在AD的病程中起着关键作用。然而,迄今为止,其完整的作用机制仍未能得到深入的研究,自噬在AD中起到的作用仍然存在许多争议。近几年关于自噬在AD中作用和治疗方面有了一系列研究进展,陆续发现了一些能够通过调节自噬而改善AD的治疗手段,为相关的研究领域提供了一个新的认识和展望的平台。现就自噬在AD中的作用机制和相关治疗方法作一简要综述。     

核酸适配体在三阴性乳腺癌诊疗中的研究进展*

乳腺癌是女性高发恶性肿瘤,三阴性乳腺癌(triple-negative breast cancer, TNBC)恶性程度极高,且发病机制复杂,是乳腺癌分型中预后最差的类型,但目前其早期筛查和诊断的敏感度仍处在较低水平。因此,亟须通过应用具有高度特异性的肿瘤标志物分子探针,实现其早期诊断和治疗。核酸适配体是在人工合成的随机单链核酸序列文库中,通过指数富集的配体系统进化技术(systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment, SELEX)筛选获得的寡核苷酸序列。高效的分子识别能力使其成为最具潜力的生物靶向分子,在肿瘤诊断及治疗中具有广阔的应用前景。目前,通过筛选已获得了多种靶向TNBC细胞的核酸适配体。重点综述基于SELEX及其衍生技术筛选TNBC相关核酸适配体的新进展,以及核酸适配体在TNBC诊断和治疗中的应用,为相关研究提供参考。     

骨质疏松治疗药物的研究进展

内骨量减少,骨组织显微结构的异常,导致骨脆性增加和易发生骨折为特征的全身性疾病.骨质疏松症可分为原发性、继发性和特发性三大类,其中,原发性骨质疏松症约占骨质疏松症的90%,它又可分为两型:Ⅰ型为绝经后骨质疏松症(postmenopausal osteoporosis,PMOP);Ⅱ型为老年性骨质疏松症(senile osteoporosis,SOP).近年来,随着对其病因、发病机制及分子生物学的深入研究,骨质疏松症治疗的药物研究有了很大进展,主要分为骨吸收抑制剂和骨形成促进剂两大类.以下就近年来国内外关于骨质疏松症治疗药物方面的研究进展作一综述.     

纳米药物递送系统在基于化疗的联合治疗中的研究进展

肿瘤是一种病理过程复杂的疾病。大多数肿瘤患者接受化疗和放疗,但这些治疗通常只对部分有效,并产生各种严重的副作用。因此,有必要开发新的治疗策略。联合治疗是目前肿瘤治疗的热点,联合用药引起的多种协同作用是提高抗肿瘤活性的关键。纳米药物递送系统的出现对临床治疗产生了深远的影响。药物的体内递送常不能达到令人满意的治疗效果,而纳米药物递送系统可以实现肿瘤靶向给药,在提高抗肿瘤效果的同时降低药物的毒副作用。本文介绍了多种基于化疗的联合治疗方法,重点阐述了纳米药物递送系统在基于化疗的联合治疗中的运用,并对该领域面临的挑战和未来发展方向进行了展望。     

Synthesis of a branched locked nucleic acid (LNA) analogue

A 3'-C-branched LNA-type bicyclic nucleoside, containing a furanose ring locked in an N-type conformation, was synthesized from a known 3-C-vinyl allofuranose derivative using a strategy relying on the condensation with the nucleobase after the introduction of the branching hydroxymethyl chain by our recently developed RuO4 based protocol. This branched LNA nucleoside has a potential as a monomer for the functionalization of LNA.     

NMR solution structures of LNA (locked nucleic acid) modified quadruplexes

We have determined the NMR solution structures of the quadruplexes formed by d(TGLGLT) and d(TL₄T), where L denotes LNA (locked nucleic acid) modified G-residues. Both structures are tetrameric, parallel and right-handed and the native global fold of the corresponding DNA quadruplex is retained upon introduction of the LNA nucleotides. However, local structural alterations are observed owing to the locked LNA sugars. In particular, a distinct change in the sugar–phosphate backbone is observed at the G2pL3 and L2pL3 base steps and sequence dependent changes in the twist between tetrads are also seen. Both the LNA modified quadruplexes have raised thermostability as compared to the DNA quadruplex. The quadruplex-forming capability of d(TGLGLT) is of particular interest as it expands the design flexibility for stable parallel LNA quadruplexes and shows that LNA nucleotides can be mixed with DNA or other modified nucleic acids. As such, LNA-based quadruplexes can be decorated by a variety of chemical modifications. Such LNA quadruplex scaffolds might find applications in the developing field of nanobiotechnology.     

The conformations of locked nucleic acids (LNA)

We have used 2D NMR spectroscopy to study the sugar conformations of oligonucleotides containing a conformationally restricted nucleotide (LNA) with a 2'-O, 4'-C-methylene bridge. We have investigated a modified 9-mer single stranded oligonucleotide as well as three 9- and 10-mer modified oligonucleotides hybridized to unmodified DNA. The single-stranded LNA contained three modifications whereas the duplexes contained one, three and four modifications, respectively. The LNA:DNA duplexes have normal Watson-Crick base-pairing with all the nucleotides in anti-conformation. By use of selective DQF-COSY spectra we determined the ratio between the N-type (C3'-endo) and S-type (C2'-endo) sugar conformations of the nucleotides. In contrast to the corresponding single-stranded DNA (ssDNA), we found that the sugar conformations of the single-stranded LNA oligonucleotide (ssLNA) cannot be described by a major S-type conformer of all the nucleotides. The nucleotides flanking an LNA nucleotide have sugar conformations with a significant population of the N-type conformer. Similarly, the sugar conformations of the nucleotides in the LNA:DNA duplexes flanking a modification were also shown to have significant contributions from the N-type conformation. In all cases, the sugar conformations of the nucleotides in the complementary DNA strand in the duplex remain in the S-type conformation. We found that the locked conformation of the LNA nucleotides both in ssLNA and in the duplexes organize the phosphate backbone in such a way as to introduce higher population of the N-type conformation. These conformational changes are associated with an improved stacking of the nucleobases. Based on the results reported herein, we propose that the exceptional stability of the LNA modified duplexes is caused by a quenching of concerted local backbone motions (preorganization) by the LNA nucleotides in ssLNA so as to decrease the entropy loss on duplex formation combined with a more efficient stacking of the nucleobases.     

Modulation of CpG oligodeoxynucleotide-mediated immune stimulation by locked nucleic acid (LNA)

Locked nucleic acid (LNA) is an RNA derivative that when introduced into oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN), mediates high efficacy and stability. CpG ODNs are potent immune stimulators and are recognized by toll-like receptor-9 (TLR9). Some phosphorothioate antisense ODNs bearing CpG dinucleotides have been shown to possess immune modulatory capacities. We investigated the effects of LNA substitutions on immune stimulation mediated by antisense ODN G3139 or CpG ODN 2006. LNA ODNs were tested for their ability to stimulate cytokine secretion from human immune cells or TLR9-dependent signaling. Phosphorothioate chimeric LNA/DNA antisense ODNs with phosphodiester-linked LNA nucleobases at both ends showed a marked decrease of immune modulation with an increasing number of 3' and 5' LNA bases. In addition, guanosine-LNA and cytosine-LNA or simply cytosine-LNA substitutions in the CpG dinucleotides of ODN 2006 led to strong decrease or near complete loss of immune modulation. TLR9-mediated signaling was similarly affected. These data indicate that increasing amounts of LNA residues in the flanks or substitutions of CpG nucleobases with LNA reduce or eliminate the immune stimulatory effects of CpG-containing phosphorothioate ODN.     

LNA (locked nucleic acid): high-affinity targeting of complementary RNA and DNA

Locked nucleic acid (LNA) is a nucleic acid analogue containing one or more LNA nucleotide monomers with a bicyclic furanose unit locked in an RNA mimicking sugar conformation. LNA oligonucleotides display unprecedented hybridization affinity toward complementary single-stranded RNA and complementary single- or double-stranded DNA. Structural studies have shown that LNA oligonucleotides induce A-type (RNA-like) duplex conformations. The wide applicability of LNA oligonucleotides for gene silencing and their use for research and diagnostic purposes are documented in a number of recent reports, some of which are described herein.     

Sequence-dependent thermodynamic parameters for locked nucleic acid (LNA)-DNA duplex formation

The design of modified nucleic acid probes, primers, and therapeutics is improved by considering their thermodynamics. Locked nucleic acid (LNA) is one of the most useful modified backbones, with incorporation of a single LNA providing a substantial increase in duplex stability. In this work, the hybridization DeltaH(o), DeltaS(o), and melting temperature (T(M)) were measured from absorbance melting curves for 100 duplex oligonucleotides with single internal LNA nucleotides on one strand, and the results provided DeltaDeltaH(o), DeltaDeltaS(o), DeltaDelta, and DeltaT(M) relative to reference DNA oligonucleotides. LNA pyrimidines contribute more stability than purines, especially A(L), but there is substantial context dependence for each LNA base. Both the 5' and 3' neighbors must be considered in predicting the effect of an LNA incorporation, with purine neighbors providing more stability. Enthalpy-entropy compensation in DeltaDeltaH(o) and DeltaDeltaS(o) is observed across the set of sequences, suggesting that LNA can stabilize the duplex by either preorganization or improved stacking, but not both simultaneously. Singular value decomposition analysis provides predictive sequence-dependent rules for hybridization of singly LNA-substituted DNA oligonucleotides to their all-DNA complements. The results are provided as sets of DeltaDeltaH(o), DeltaDeltaS(o), and DeltaDelta parameters for all 32 of the possible nearest neighbors for LNA+DNA:DNA hybridization (5' MX(L) and 5' X(L)N, where M, N, and X = A, C, G, or T and X(L) represents LNA). The parameters are applicable within the standard thermodynamic prediction algorithms. They provide T(M) estimates accurate to within 2 degrees C for LNA-containing oligonucleotides, which is significantly better accuracy than previously available.     

The solution structure of a locked nucleic acid (LNA) hybridized to DNA

LNA (Locked Nucleic Acids) is a novel oligonucleotide analogue containing a conformationally restricted nucleotide with a 2'-O, 4'-C-methylene bridge that induces unprecedented thermal affinities when mixed with complementary single stranded DNA and RNA. We have used two-dimensional 1H NMR spectroscopy obtained at 750 and 500 MHz to determine a high resolution solution structure of an LNA oligonucleotide hybridized to the complementary DNA strand. The determination of the structure was based on a complete relaxation matrix analysis of the NOESY cross peaks followed by restrained molecular dynamics calculations. Forty final structures were generated for the duplex from A-type and B-type dsDNA starting structures. The root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) of the coordinates for the forty structures of the complex was 0.32A. The structures were analysed by use of calculated helix parameters. This showed that the values for rise and buckle in the LNA duplex is markedly different from canonical B-DNA at the modification site. A value of twist similar to A-DNA is also observed at the modification site. The overall length of the helix which is 27.3 A. The average twist over the sequence are 35.9 degrees +/- 0.3 degrees. Consequently, the modification does not cause the helix to unwind. The bis-intercalation of the thiazole orange dye TOTO to the LNA duplex was also investigated by 1H NMR spectroscopy to sense the structural change from the unmodified oligonucleotide. We observed that the bis-intercalation of TOTO is much less favourable in the 5'-CT(L)AG-3' site than in the unmodified 5'-CTAG-3' site. This was related to the change in the base stacking of the LNA duplex compared to the unmodified duplex.     

Position-dependent effects of locked nucleic acid (LNA) on DNA sequencing and PCR primers

Genomes are becoming heavily annotated with important features. Analysis of these features often employs oligonucleotides that hybridize at defined locations. When the defined location lies in a poor sequence context, traditional design strategies may fail. Locked Nucleic Acid (LNA) can enhance oligonucleotide affinity and specificity. Though LNA has been used in many applications, formal design rules are still being defined. To further this effort we have investigated the effect of LNA on the performance of sequencing and PCR primers in AT-rich regions, where short primers yield poor sequencing reads or PCR yields. LNA was used in three positional patterns: near the 5′ end (LNA-5′), near the 3′ end (LNA-3′) and distributed throughout (LNA-Even). Quantitative measures of sequencing read length (Phred Q30 count) and real-time PCR signal (cycle threshold, C_T) were characterized using two-way ANOVA. LNA-5′ increased the average Phred Q30 score by 60% and it was never observed to decrease performance. LNA-5′ generated cycle thresholds in quantitative PCR that were comparable to high-yielding conventional primers. In contrast, LNA-3′ and LNA-Even did not improve read lengths or C_T. ANOVA demonstrated the statistical significance of these results and identified significant interaction between the positional design rule and primer sequence.     

In vivo tumor growth inhibition and biodistribution studies of locked nucleic acid (LNA) antisense oligonucleotides

Locked nucleic acids (LNA) are novel high-affinity DNA analogs that can be used as genotype-specific drugs. The LNA oligonucleotides (LNA PO ODNs) are very stable in vitro and in vivo without the need for a phosphorothiolated backbone. In this study we tested the biological fate and the efficacy in tumor growth inhibition of antisense oligonucleotides directed against the gene of the large subunit of RNA polymerase II (POLR2A) that are completely synthesized as LNA containing diester backbones. These full LNA oligonucleotides strongly reduce POLR2A protein levels. Full LNA PO ODNs appeared to be very stable compounds when injected into the circulation of mice. Full LNA PO ODNs were continuously administered for 14 days to tumor-bearing nude mice. Tumor growth was inhibited sequence specifically at dosages from 1 mg/kg/day. LNA PO ODNs appeared to be non-toxic at dosages <5 mg/kg/day. Biodistribution studies showed the kidneys to have the highest uptake of LNA PO ODNs and urinary secretion as the major route of clearance. This report shows that LNA PO ODNs are potent genotype-specific drugs that can inhibit tumor growth in vivo.