Recent advances in peptide nucleic acid for cancer bionanotechnology

Abstract

Peptide nucleic acid (PNA) is an oligomer, in which the phosphate backbone has been replaced by a pseudopeptide backbone that is meant to mimic DNA. Peptide nucleic acids are of the utmost importance in the biomedical field because of their ability to hybridize with neutral nucleic acids and their special chemical and biological properties. In recent years, PNAs have emerged in nanobiotechnology for cancer diagnosis and therapy due to their high affinity and sequence selectivity toward corresponding DNA and RNA. In this review, we summarize the recent progresses that have been made in cancer detection and therapy with PNA biotechnology. In addition, we emphasize nanoparticle PNA-based strategies for the efficient delivery of drugs in anticancer therapies.

Figures

Figure 1

PNAs hybridize to complementary DNA by hydrogen bonding. A=adenine, G=guanine, C=cytosine and T=thymine.

Figure 2

Fmoc/Bhoc-protected PNA monomers.

Figure 3

Chemical structures of the unnatural nucleobases used in PNA oligomers.

Figure 4

(A) The structure of an 18-mer PNA which is antisense to rat GFAP mRNA. (B) The structure of an 18-mer PNA, which is antisense to rat CAV mRNA. TfR represents rat transferrin receptor; SA represents streptavidin.

Figure 5

The scheme shows that PNA has 4 different ways to hybridize duplex DNA. a) Conventionally-formed triplex; b) Triplex invasion complexes; c) Double duplex invasion complexes; and d) Duplex invasion complexes.

Figure 6

Chemical structures of the PNA intercalating dyes (BO, TO).

Figure 7

PNA microarray for the detection of target DNA on gold electrodes.