Molecular application of aptamers in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and communicable diseases

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dc.contributor.authorMolefe, Philisiwe Fortunate
dc.contributor.authorMasamba, Priscilla
dc.contributor.authorOyinloye, Babatunji Emmanuel
dc.contributor.authorMbatha, Londiwe Simphiwe
dc.contributor.authorMeyer, Mervin
dc.contributor.authorKappo, Abidemi Paul
dc.date.accessioned2018-10-15T08:19:07Z
dc.date.available2018-10-15T08:19:07Z
dc.date.issued2018
dc.description.abstractCancer and infectious diseases such as Ebola, HIV, tuberculosis, Zika, hepatitis, measles and human schistosomiasis are serious global health hazards. The increasing annual morbidities and mortalities of these diseases have been blamed on drug resistance and the inefficacy of available diagnostic tools, particularly those which are immunologically-based. Antibody-based tools rely solely on antibody production for diagnosis and for this reason they are the major cause of diagnostic delays. Unfortunately, the control of these diseases depends on early detection and administration of effective treatment therefore any diagnostic delay is a huge challenge to curbing these diseases. Hence, there is a need for alternative diagnostic tools, discovery and development of novel therapeutic agents. Studies have demonstrated that aptamers could potentially offer one of the best solutions to these problems. Aptamers are short sequences of either DNA or RNA molecules, which are identified in vitro through a SELEX process. They are sensitive and bind specifically to target molecules. Their promising features suggest they may serve as better diagnostic agents and can be used as drug carriers for therapeutic purposes. In this article, we review the applications of aptamers in the theranostics of cancer and some infectious diseases.en_US
dc.identifier.citationMolefe, P.F. et al. (2018). Molecular application of aptamers in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and communicable diseases. Pharmaceuticals, 11: 93en_US
dc.identifier.issn1424-8247
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ph11040093
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10566/4119
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.privacy.showsubmitterFALSE
dc.publisherMDPIen_US
dc.rights© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
dc.status.ispeerreviewedTRUE
dc.subjectAptamersen_US
dc.subjectCanceren_US
dc.subjectDiagnosticsen_US
dc.subjectTherapeuticsen_US
dc.subjectInfectious diseasesen_US
dc.subjectSELEXen_US
dc.titleMolecular application of aptamers in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and communicable diseasesen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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