Pharmaceutical applications of framework nucleic acids

Abstract

DNA is a biological polymer that encodes and stores genetic information in all living organism. Particularly, the precise nucleobase pairing inside DNA is exploited for the self-assembling of nanostructures with defined size, shape and functionality. These DNA nanostructures are known as framework nucleic acids (FNAs) for their skeleton-like features. Recently, FNAs have been explored in various fields ranging from physics, chemistry to biology. In this review, we mainly focus on the recent progress of FNAs in a pharmaceutical perspective. We summarize the advantages and applications of FNAs for drug discovery, drug delivery and drug analysis. We further discuss the drawbacks of FNAs and provide an outlook on the pharmaceutical research direction of FNAs in the future.

Emerging low-molecular weight nucleopeptide-based hydrogels: state of the art, applications, challenges and perspectives

“…Indeed, the choice of nucleotide(s) will improve the solubility of the nucleopeptides because of the presence of negatively charged phosphate groups, whereas the incorporation of nucleobases directly grafted, nucleosides and especially PNA, which are exempt of charge, will have the opposite effect with a higher propensity to aggregation and/or precipitation. 29,43,44 All these derivatives have a good biocompatibility, 40,107–109 as confirmed by several examples ( e.g. , (15) , 77 (25) , 67 (30) , 97–99 (41) 102 ), though with better chemical ( i.e.…”

“…Indeed, the choice of nucleotide(s) will improve the solubility of the nucleopeptides because of the presence of negatively charged phosphate groups, whereas the incorporation of nucleobases directly grafted, nucleosides and especially PNA, which are exempt of charge, will have the opposite effect with a higher propensity to aggregation and/or precipitation. 29,43,44 All these derivatives have a good biocompatibility, 40,[107][108][109] as confirmed by several examples (e.g., (15), 77 (25), 67 (30), [97][98][99] (41) 102 ), though with better chemical (i.e., against hydrolysis and depurination) and biological (i.e., against nucleases) stability for nucleobase(s) directly grafted and PNA. 43,44,80,81 Also, nucleotides and PNA offer the possibility for incorporating several nucleobases in a row (i.e., strands), even if such an approach presents challenges in terms of chemical synthesis.…”

Gene therapy to enhance angiogenesis in chronic wounds

“…FNAs are 1D to 3D nanostructures formed from DNA/RNA molecules that assemble based on the Watson-Crick base complementary pairing principle. 204 , 205 , 206 A tetrahedral framework nucleic acid (tFNA) is a simple 3D structure with abundant functional modification sites that is formed by four different single strands of DNA (ssDNA) through DNA origami technology. 207 , 208 Several studies have shown that tFNA has the function of promoting angiogenesis through activation of signaling pathways, such as Notch signaling, 209 JAK/STAT signaling, 210 and the Akt/Nrf2/HO-1 pathway.…”

DNA-Liposome Hybrid Carriers for Triggered Cargo Release

“…14 DNA as a building material has great potential to create a drug delivery vehicle responding to endogenous triggers. [15][16][17][18] The triggered hybridization of DNA can produce forces large enough to facilitate the transition between secondary structures. [19][20][21] It has been previously shown that the binding of an aptamer sequence to its target structure can displace pre-hybridized complementary DNA from the aptamer.…”