A New Aptamer For Glioblastoma Diagnosis and Treatment

Glioblastoma multiforme (gbm) is the most aggressive human brain tumor, with an overall median survival of 13.5 months. despite intensive treatment, gbm often shows chemo- and radiotherapy resistance, which inevitably result in tumor relapse. a growing body of evidence shows that a sub-population of glioblastoma stem cells (gscs) may play a pivotal role in gbm tumorigenesis, as well as in therapeutic resistance and relapse. a potential strategy to improve the outcome of gbm patients could be the selective inhibition and eradication of gscs, which can result in sensitization to therapy and tumor regression. here, we characterized the functional activity of the rna aptamer 40l and its truncated form a40s, which selectively bind gscs. we demonstrated that 40l and a40s can inhibit proliferation, migration, and self-renewal and promote differentiation of gscs by targeting the receptor tyrosine kinase epha2, an innovative potential marker of gscs. also, we demonstrated that a40s can bind epha2-carrying exosomes from gbm cells in culture and from the serum of gbm patients. the results of our work open the possibility to use 40l and a40s as targeted therapeutic agents for gbm through the selective inhibition and eradication of gscs, as well as a diagnostic tool for the detection of gbm-derived circulating exosomes.