RNA-seq profiling of HeLa and MDA-MB-231 cell lines treated with folate and AS1411-functionalized DNA nanocages

Self-assembled multivalent DNA nanocages are an emerging class of molecules useful for biomedicine applications. Here, we investigated in both HeLa cervix cancer and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell lines the molecular mechanisms of cytotoxicity induced by DNA nanocages harboring both folate and AS1411 aptamer functionalization (Fol-Apt-NC) and by AS1411-linked nanocages (Apt-NC). By applying transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) technology, we identified common as well as unique biological functions and genes altered by the various treatments depending on the mechanism of nanostructure entry and evidenced the different behavior of the two cancer cell lines.