Interleukin-6 (IL-6) binds to the IL-6 receptor (IL-6R) subunit, related to autoimmune diseases and cytokine storm in COVID-19. In this study, we performed systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment and identified a novel RNA aptamer. This RNA aptamer not only bound to IL-6R with a dissociation constant of 200 n m, but also inhibited the interaction of IL-6R with IL-6.
Keywords: in vitro selection; SELEX; aptamer; interleukin-6; interleukin-6 receptor.
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Agrochemistry.