title: Chip-based detection of hepatitis C virus using RNA aptamers that specifically bind to HCV core antigen.
abstract: The development of reagents with high affinity and specificity to the antigens of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is important for the early stage diagnosis of its infection. Aptamers are short, single-stranded oligonucleotides with the ability to specifically recognize target molecules with high affinity. Herein, we report the selection of RNA aptamers that bind to the core antigen of HCV. High affinity aptamers were isolated from a 10(15) random library of 60 mer RNAs using the SELEX procedure. Importantly, the selected aptamers specifically bound to the core antigen, but not to another HCV antigen, NS5, in a protein chip-based assay. Using these aptamers, we developed an aptamer-based biosensor for HCV diagnosis and detected the core antigen from HCV infected patients' sera with good specificity. This novel aptamer-based antigen detection sensor could be applied to the early diagnosis of HCV infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Dongguk University, 3-26 Phil-Dong, Joong-Gu, Seoul 100-715, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Seram
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Young Sook
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Minjung
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jo
authors.forename: Moonsoo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Dong-ki
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Soyoun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide / Q000737:chemistry*; D001483:Base Sequence; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000276:immunology*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000821:virology; D018936:Hepatitis C Antigens / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D040081:Protein Array Analysis; D052156:SELEX Aptamer Technique; D014758:Viral Core Proteins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood / Q000737:chemistry; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D012324:RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase
chemical_list: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide; D018936:Hepatitis C Antigens; D014758:Viral Core Proteins; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins; C069130:nucleocapsid protein, Hepatitis C virus; C087036:NS-5 protein, hepatitis C virus; D012324:RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase