Background: It has been expected that AS1411 aptamer could work against the cancer cells. Although the general information is available, there is still lack of details for the purpose. Therefore, activity of AS1411 aptamer against the nucleolin (NCL) target of cancer cells has been investigated in current work at the molecular scale. In addition, the same features have been also investigated for examining the activity of AT11, one of AS1411 derivatives. Methods: This work has been done employing in silico Molecular Docking simulations. Ten starting 3D configurations have been considered for each aptamer to be docked against the NCL target. Conformational search processes of ligands against the target indicated that the starting configuration of ligand could play an important role in determining the final complex formation in both of quantitative and qualitative aspects. Results: A04 and B01 are those starting configurations of AS1411 and AT11 making the strongest complexes with the NCL target among other ligands. The analyses indicated that the complexes of AT11 are slightly stronger than those of AS1411, in which the NCL target structure is more involved in the chelated complexes with the AT11 in comparison with the AS1411. Conclusion: AS1411 and AT11 are specified for targeting the NCL of cancer cells for the diagnosis and therapeutic purposes. They have reasonable binding affinity and could work as possible inhibitors of NCL.

The support of this work by the research council of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences under grant number 298096 and ethics code IR.MUI.RESEARCH. REC.1398.427 is acknowledged