Sunday, August 12, 2012

Programmable Release of Multiple Protein Drugs from Aptamer-Functionalized Hydrogels via Nucleic Acid Hybridization


Department of Chemical, Materials, and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, United States
J. Am. Chem. Soc.2012134 (30), pp 12410–12413
DOI: 10.1021/ja305238a
Publication Date (Web): July 23, 2012
Copyright © 2012 American Chemical Society


Polymeric delivery systems have been extensively studied to achieve localized and controlled release of protein drugs. However, it is still challenging to control the release of multiple protein drugs in distinct stages according to the progress of disease or treatment. This study successfully demonstrates that multiple protein drugs can be released from aptamer-functionalized hydrogels with adjustable release rates at predetermined time points using complementary sequences (CSs) as biomolecular triggers. Because both aptamer–protein interactions and aptamer–CS hybridization are sequence-specific, aptamer-functionalized hydrogels constitute a promising polymeric delivery system for the programmable release of multiple protein drugs to treat complex human diseases.

No comments:

Post a Comment