Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers with a mean survival time of few months: 3-6 months for 80% of patients. The main reasons of this poor prognostic are the absence of specific symptoms and the lack of biomarkers, leading to a late detection. Aptamers are single stranded DNA oligonucleotides which bind to their target with good specificity and high affinity. They are generated through a process name cell-SELEX (cell based Systematic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential Enrichment). The principle of SELEX is the evolution of an initial random library of 1012 DNA sequences through successive rounds until the binding sequences (~10 sequences) are enriched and a panel of aptamers is generated. The main advantage of cell-SELEX is the generation of a probe which recognizes a whole cell instead of a specific protein removing the need of knowing the target before starting the selection. These probes are developed to recognize pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. The generation of a probe able to detect in-vivo tumor cells will be of utmost interest. Indeed, aptamers are known for their low toxicity and easy and versatile modifications allowing conjugation to nanostructure and delivery to human body. In brief, the generation of new molecular probes to recognize pancreatic cancer cells is crucial in order to detect and treat more efficiently this disease.

Generation of a panel of aptamers for the detection of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

247th National Meeting (2014)

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