Figure 2.

Applications of aptamer-functionalized drug delivery nanocarriers. Aptamer-incorporated drug nanocarriers can be designed for (a) targeted drug delivery, (b) controllable drug release, and (c) imaging-guided therapy. In (b), drugs captured by conformation-switchable aptamers or other stimulus-responsive agents can be programmatically released in response to the environmental stimuli. In (c), imaging signals can be designed to release with payloads or upon binding to target cells, enabling guiding and tracking of therapeutics in vivo.