Ocular diseases cause a significant economic burden and decrease in quality of life worldwide. Drugs and carrier molecules that penetrate ocular tissues after intravenous administration are needed for more efficient and patient-friendly treatment of ocular diseases. Here, ocular barrier penetrating aptamers were selected through the utilization of in vivo SELEX and intravenous injection in rats. Three aptamers – Apt1, Apt2, and Apt5 – were chosen based on their specific accumulation in vascularized ocular tissues and further characterized for their in vivo biodistribution using RT-qPCR. A statistically significant difference between ΔCt values of ocular and control tissues with Apt2 (P < 0.0001) and Apt5 (P < 0.0001) was observed. Interestingly, Apt1 was the most abundant aptamer in the sequencing pool, but did not show a statistically significant difference in in vivo biodistribution between ocular and control tissues. Overall, this study established a functional in vivo SELEX method for discovering ocular tissue targeting aptamers.
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