%0 Journal Article
%T Transforming doxorubicin into a cancer stem cell killer via EpCAM aptamer-mediated delivery
%A Aina He
%A Andrew G Bean
%A Dongxi Xiang
%A Hadi Al Shamaileh
%A Ke Liu
%A Lingxue Kong
%A Matthew Bruce
%A Motilal Mathesh
%A Pei-Zhuo Zhang
%A Phuong Ha-Lien Tran
%A Roberto A Barrero
%A Sarah Shigdar
%A Shu-Feng Zhou
%A Tao Wang
%A Wang Yin
%A Wei Duan
%A Wenrong Yang
%A Yingchun Hou
%A Yong Li
%J Theranostics
%D 2017
%I Ivyspring International Publisher
%R 10.7150/thno.20168
%X Chemotherapy-resistant cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a major obstacle to the effective treatment of many forms of cancer. To overcome CSC chemo-resistance, we developed a novel system by conjugating a CSC-targeting EpCAM aptamer with doxorubicin (Apt-DOX) to eliminate CSCs. Incubation of Apt-DOX with colorectal cancer cells resulted in high concentration and prolonged retention of DOX in the nuclei. Treatment of tumour-bearing xenograft mice with Apt-DOX resulted in at least 3-fold more inhibition of tumour growth and longer survival as well as a 30-fold lower frequency of CSC and a prolonged longer tumourigenic latency compared with those receiving the same dose of free DOX. Our data demonstrate that a CSC-targeting aptamer is able to transform a conventional chemotherapeutic agent into a CSC-killer to overcome drug resistance in solid tumours.
%K doxorubicin
%K cancer stem cell killer
%U http://www.thno.org/v07p4071.htm