A team of Russian scientists from Krasnoyarsk State Medical University, together with the Institute of Chemical Biology and Basic Medicine of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, created DNA aptamers (short nucleotide sequences) that can be used in glioma detection. With 100% accuracy. This was reported to socialbites.ca at the Russian Science Foundation, which supported the work with a grant.
Glioma is a tumor that affects the glial cells of the brain or spinal cord (they nourish neurons and create a suitable environment for their work), the most common primary tumor, and also the most severe and difficult to operate brain tumor. Today, gliomas are detected by computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). But with such a diagnosis, there is a high risk that small neoplasms will not be noticed in the pictures.
Molecules created by scientists are able to find malignant cells of nervous tissue, and then, thanks to the bright dye label, the tumor can be easily detected during surgery using a microscope. This approach will help to remove neoplasms with high accuracy without affecting the functional areas of the brain.
“Aptamer synthesis is a very simple and inexpensive technology. Once we have chosen the DNA for the target that interests us, we can copy this molecule as many times as we want and put different labels on it. The aptamers obtained in this study only bind to glioma cells, allowing their recognition with absolute accuracy. In this way, aptamers will help simplify and speed up tumor diagnosis. Moreover, short DNA is rapidly decomposed in the body: they are “eaten” by special enzymes, so the molecules we present are most likely safe not only for mice, but also for humans,” said the Federal Research Center “Krasnoyarsk Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences” for Digital Controlled Medicines and Laboratory of Treatment and Laboratory of Biomolecular and Medical Technologies of Krasnoyarsk State Medical University VF Voyno-Yasenetsky Anna Kichkaylo.
Experiments with mice have shown that aptamers are absolutely safe for animals and could therefore potentially be used for accurate diagnosis and targeted therapy of brain tumors in humans.