Aptamers: molecules of great potential

Filip Radom; Przemysław M Jurek; Maciej P Mazurek; Jacek Otlewski; Filip Jeleń

doi:10.1016/j.biotechadv.2013.04.007

Aptamers: molecules of great potential

Biotechnol Adv. 2013 Dec;31(8):1260-74. doi: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2013.04.007. Epub 2013 Apr 28.

Authors

Filip Radom¹, Przemysław M Jurek, Maciej P Mazurek, Jacek Otlewski, Filip Jeleń

Affiliation

¹ Department of Protein Engineering, Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Wroclaw, Tamka 2, 50-137 Wroclaw, Poland.

PMID: 23632375
DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2013.04.007

Abstract

Aptamers emerged over 20 years ago as a class of nucleic acids able to recognize specific targets. Today, aptamer-related studies constitute a large and important field of biotechnology. Functional oligonucleotides have proved to be a versatile tool in biomedical research due to the ease of synthesis, a wide range of potentially recognized molecular targets and the simplicity of selection. Similarly to antibodies, aptamers can be used to detect or isolate specific molecules, as well as to act as targeting and therapeutic agents. In this review we present different approaches to aptamer application in nanobiotechnology, diagnostics and medicine.

Keywords: Aptamer; Aptamers' application; Medical diagnostics; Nanobiotechnology; Oligonucleotide; SELEX; Therapeutic applications.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Aptamers, Nucleotide*
Aptamers, Peptide*
Biotechnology*
Nanotechnology*
SELEX Aptamer Technique

Substances

Aptamers, Nucleotide
Aptamers, Peptide