title: Affinity hydrogels for controlled protein release using nucleic acid aptamers and complementary oligonucleotides.
abstract: Biomaterials for the precise control of protein release are important to the development of new strategies for treating human diseases. This study aimed to fundamentally understand aptamer--protein dissociation triggered by complementary oligonucleotides, and to apply this understanding to develop affinity hydrogels for controlled protein release. The results showed that the oligonucleotide tails of the aptamers played a critical role in inducing intermolecular hybridization and triggering aptamer--protein dissociation. In addition, the attachment of the oligonucleotide tails to the aptamers and the increase of hybridizing length could produce a synergistic effect on the dissociation of bound proteins from their aptamers. More importantly, pegylated complementary oligonucleotides could successfully trigger protein release from the aptamer-functionalized hydrogels at multiple time points. Based on these results, it is believed that aptamer-functionalized hydrogels and complementary oligonucleotides hold great potential of controlling the release of protein drugs to treat human diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical, Materials & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269-3222, USA.
authors.forename: Boonchoy
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Soontornworajit
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Matthew P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Snipes
authors.forename: Mark R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Battig
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry*; D008422:Materials Testing; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009841:Oligonucleotides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000737:chemistry; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D020100:Hydrogels; D009841:Oligonucleotides; D011506:Proteins; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols