Development of DNA Aptamers Targeting Breast Cancer Derived Extracellular Vesicles for Biomarker Discovery

Abstract

Detection of cancer at the early stages greatly increases the chance for successful treatment and favourable prognosis for patients. However, a liquid-based biopsy has yet to be developed for most cancers. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are an attractive candidate for early cancer detection since their surface proteome mirrors the cell of origin. Thus, there is a need for the development of reliable probes that can detect cancer derived EVs. In this thesis, the VBS-1 aptamer was developed to selectively bind to triple-negative breast cancer cell line derived EVs. Initially, several EV isolation methods were compared and isolated EVs were validated and characterized. Aptamer clones were developed by Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment to EVs isolated by differential ultracentrifugation and their binding was validated by flow cytometry. The binding partner of the selected VBS-1 aptamer was identified by LC-MS/MS to be the transmembrane protein ATP1A1. The presence of an ATP1A1-positive EV population was validated by flow cytometry. The selected aptamer may find further application in biosensors for the detection of EVs as cancer biomarkers in biological fluids.