Nucleic acid aptamers: Promising ligands for disease diagnosis Krithiga N, Isloor Shrikrishna* Department of Veterinary Microbiology, Veterinary College, KVAFSU, Hebbal, Bengaluru - 560024, Karnataka, India *Corresponding author E-mail id: kisloor@gmail.com
Online published on 29 August, 2023. Abstract Nucleic acid aptamers are small, single-stranded oligonucleotide molecules that have been carefully selected to bind specific targets with high specificity and affinity. The exploration of the three-dimensional conformational folding properties of these nucleic acid molecules, coupled with their advantages over antibodies in terms of synthetic accessibility, chemical modifications, non-immunogenic nature, swift refolding, long shelf-life, and cost-effectiveness, has garnered significant attention in the field of disease diagnosis and therapeutics. However, certain shortcomings, such as low chemical diversity, nuclease susceptibility, and rapid clearance in biological systems, pose major hurdles to their widespread use. Despite the limited commercial availability of aptamer-based products for clinical diagnosis and therapy, the emergence of aptasensors and apta-assays shows promising potential to overcome these obstacles and elevate the use of these new classes of ligands, eventually replacing antibodies in the development of diagnostic tools for various diseases. Top Keywords Nucleic acid, Aptamers, Aptasensors, Apta-assays, Diagnosis. Top |