Aptamers recognizing glycosylated hemagglutinin expressed on the surface of vaccinia virus-infected cells.
Traditional methods for detection and identification of pathogenic viruses or bacteria tend to be slow and cumbersome. We have developed aptamer probes with the capacity to rapidly detect the presence of viral infection with specificity and sensitivity. Vaccinia virus (VV) was chosen as the model because it is closely related to variola virus that causes smallpox. A method known as cell-SELEX (systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment) was used to generate very selective and highly specific aptamers designed to recognize proteins expressed on the surface of VV-infected cells. Characterization of the aptamers showed that the virus-encoded hemagglutinin, a protein expressed on the surface of infected cells, is the preferential binding target. These studies show the feasibility of generating aptamers against a given specific infectious agent and will enable further development of aptamers as diagnostic and/or therapeutic tools against a broad range of infectious agents.
Parekh
Parag
P
Department of Chemistry, UF Genetics Institute, Center for Research at Bio/Nano Interface, Shands Cancer Center and McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville Florida 32611-7200, USA.
Tang
Zhiwen
Z
Turner
Peter C
PC
Moyer
Richard W
RW
Tan
Weihong
W
D000818:Animals; D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide / Q000032:analysis*; D002460:Cell Line; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D006031:Glycosylation; D006388:Hemagglutinins / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D011817:Rabbits; D013552:Swine; D014616:Vaccinia virus / Q000737:chemistry*
D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide; D006388:Hemagglutinins