A tumor-homing peptide, F3, selectively binds to endothelial cells in tumor blood vessels and to tumor cells. Here, we show that the cell surface molecule recognized by F3 is nucleolin. Nucleolin specifically bound to an F3 peptide affinity matrix from extracts of cultured breast carcinoma cells. Antibodies and cell surface biotin labeling revealed nucleolin at the surface of actively growing c...

Aptamers, also termed as decoys or "chemical antibodies," represent an emerging class of therapeutics. They are short DNA or RNA oligonucleotides or peptides that assume a specific and stable three-dimensional shape in vivo, thereby providing specific tight binding to protein targets. In some cases and as opposed to antisense oligonucleotides, effects can be mediated against extracellular targe...

Combining SERS and statistical analysis, we demonstrated that an aptamer is a flexible molecule blocked in specific conformation to capture its analyte provided evidence for the dynamics of aptamer/protein interaction.

We have developed a simple, rapid, high-throughput cancer diagnosis system using functional nanoparticles (NPs) consisting of poly(catechin) capped-gold NPs (Au@PC NPs) and smaller nucleolin-binding aptamer (AS1411) conjugated gold NPs (AS1411-Au NPs). The AS1411-Au NPs/Au@PC NP is used as a targeting agent in laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS)-based tumor tissue imaging. Se...

A complex structure, designated the chromosome periphery, surrounds each chromosome during mitosis. Although several proteins have been shown to localize to the chromosome periphery, their functions during mitosis remain unclear. Here, we used a combination of high-resolution microscopy and RNA-interference-mediated depletion to study the functions of nucleolin, a nucleolar protein localized at...

The protein nucleolin, functionally involved in the main steps of ribosome biogenesis, is codified by a single copy gene in mammals. Here we report that at least three different genes codify for this protein in carp fish (Cyprinus carpio). This is the first description of the genomic organization of nucleolin in a teleost. The carp nucleolin gene includes 8.8 kb and contains 16 exons. Promoter ...

CD34 glycoprotein in human hematopoiesis is expressed on a subset of progenitor cells capable of self-renewal, multilineage differentiation, and hematopoietic reconstitution. Nucleolin is an abundant multifunctional phosphoprotein of growing eukaryotic cells, involved in regulation of gene transcription, chromatin remodeling, and RNA metabolism, whose transcripts are enriched in murine hematopo...

The simian virus 40 large tumour-antigen (T antigen) DNA helicase is a hexameric structure; it has been proposed that, in viral DNA replication, two of these hexamers are combined to form a bipartite holoenzyme that acts concurrently at both forks of a replication bubble. In a search for structural components of this helicase complex, we have identified nucleolin as a specific binding protein f...

The surface overexpression of nucleolin provides an anchor for the specific attachment of biomolecules to cancer and angiogenic endothelial cells. The peptide F3 is a high-affinity ligand of the nucleolin receptor (NR) that has been investigated as a carrier to deliver biologically active molecules to tumors for both therapeutic and imaging applications. A site-specific PEGylated F3 derivative ...