title: Bivalent aptamers deliver the punch.
abstract: Aptamers, sometimes termed "chemical antibodies," have been engineered into multimerized versions for therapeutic application. The groups of Gilboa and Sullenger now report the development of a bivalent aptamer-molecular device as a receptor agonist that has the same functional properties, but stronger avidity than a corresponding antibody.
authors.affiliation: Division of Molecular Biology, Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, Duarte, CA 91010, USA.
authors.forename: Jiehua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: John J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Rossi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies / Q000737:chemistry*; D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry; D019281:Dimerization; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D009696:Nucleic Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D015202:Protein Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D053262:Receptors, OX40 / Q000737:chemistry; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide; D008024:Ligands; D009696:Nucleic Acids; D053262:Receptors, OX40; D004247:DNA