Recent Advances in Colorectal Cancer-Specific Nucleic Acid Aptamers for Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications

Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death, and its incidence is continuing to increase rapidly in developing countries. Thus, it is clinically important to achieve an early diagnosis and early treatment for colorectal cancer. Aptamers, also known as chemical antibodies, are short, single-stranded oligonucleotide ligands selected by systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX). Because of their excellent chemical properties, such as easy synthesis, controllable modifications, long-term stability, low immunogenicity, and fast tissue penetration, aptamers have good application prospects in cancer diagnosis as well as therapy, and some are in clinical trials. In this review, we discuss aptamers that have been developed for colorectal cancer, and then briefly highlight applications of aptamers in colorectal cancer diagnosis and therapy.