Menu Close

What can aptamers be used for?

What can aptamers be used for?

Like monoclonal antibodies, aptamers can be used for the molecular recognition of their respective targets. Aptamers have been successfully used for pathogen recognition, cancer recognition, monitoring environmental contamination, and as stem cell markers.

Why is an aptamer a practical strategy for clinical application?

Aptamers have the advantage of being highly specific, relatively small in size, and non-immunogenic. Since the discovery of aptamers in the early 1990s, great efforts have been made to make them clinically relevant for diseases like cancer, HIV, and macular degeneration.

Are aptamers immunogenic?

Aptamers demonstrate an affinity and specificity similar to those of monoclonal antibodies. Meanwhile, aptamers are non-immunogenic and demonstrate high tissue penetration similar to that of small molecules.

Are aptamers really promising for diagnostic or therapeutic applications in CVD?

In conclusion, aptamers and aptamer–nanoparticle conjugates have emerged as a robust tool for the diagnosis of almost all types of cancers and are rapidly being applied in early clinical studies for rapid and reliable diagnosis and bio-imaging purposes.

How are aptamers administered?

There is limited published information concerning the toxicological properties of aptamer therapeutics because so far there is only one approved aptamer drug (pegaptanib), which is administered in small doses by intravitreal injection.

Is aptamer a biomarker?

(2019) screened aptamer C1, C3, C7, and C12 for small cell lung cancer (SCLC) through the CELL-SELEX, and high density lipo-binding protein (HDLBP) was determined as their biomarkers.

What is the Selex process?

Specifically, SELEX process includes (1) the incubation of target molecules with the random sequence pools, (2) and the subsequent separation of unbound oligonucleotides and the elution of bound oligonucleotides, (3) then PCR amplification of bound aptamers.

What are aptamers made of?

Aptamers are short, single-stranded DNA or RNA (ssDNA or ssRNA) molecules that can selectively bind to a specific target, including proteins, peptides, carbohydrates, small molecules, toxins, and even live cells. Aptamers assume a variety of shapes due to their tendency to form helices and single-stranded loops.

Where do aptamers come from?

Aptamer is an artificial chemical antibody that is generated from the randomized nucleic acid library by three simple steps: binding, separation, and amplification.

What is Soma scan?

SOMAscan is an aptamer-based proteomics assay capable of measuring 1,305 human protein analytes in serum, plasma, and other biological matrices with high sensitivity and specificity.

How aptamers are developed?

Conceptually, aptamers are developed by an evolutionary process, whereby, as selection progresses, sequences with a certain conformation capable of binding to the target of interest emerge and dominate the pool.

Who invented aptamers?

Jack Szostak, Nobel laureate and one of the inventors of SELEX and aptamers.

How are aptamers made?

Aptamers are generated via an in vitro process known as the Systematic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential enrichment, also known as SELEX. Tuerk and Gold (1990), aiming to find an RNA aptamer sequence that would bind T4 DNA polymerase, first termed the process.

What is a nuclease-resistant RNA aptamer?

A nuclease-resistant RNA aptamer specifically inhibits angiopoietin-1-mediated Tie2 activation and function. Angiogenesis 11, 395–401 (2008). Murakami, K. et al. Anti-bovine prion protein RNA aptamer containing tandem GGA repeat interacts both with recombinant bovine prion protein and its beta isoform with high affinity. Prion 2, 73–80 (2008).

How is NU172 different from other therapeutic aptamers?

In contrast to therapeutic aptamers that are modified for increased nuclease resistance and prolonged half-life in vivo, NU172 is a 26-nucleotide unmodified DNA aptamer. NU172 was selected against thrombin 199 and induces a short-acting anticoagulation effect.

What are aptamer-based therapeutics and how do they work?

Aptamer-based therapeutics typically exploit one of three strategies: an aptamer can serve as an antagonist for blocking the interaction of disease-associated targets (for example, receptor–ligand interactions); an aptamer can serve as an agonist for activating the function of target receptors; or a cell-type-specific aptamer can serve as a carr…

What is a nucleic acid aptamer?

Nucleic acid aptamers, often termed chemical antibodies, are short, single-stranded DNA or RNA molecules (20–100 nucleotides in length) with defined structures that can specifically bind to a molecular target via three-dimensional structures.