title: Is less more? Lessons from aptamer selection strategies.
abstract: Aptamers have many inherent advantages originating from their in vitro selection and tailored chemical synthesis that makes them appealing alternatives of antibodies in bioaffinity assays. However, what ultimately matters, and that is the prerequisite to give way to all these advantages, is how well, and how selectively the aptamers bind to their targets. With the aptamer selection largely in the hand of life scientists, analytical chemists focused mostly on methodological development of aptamer-based assays using a fairly restricted number of aptamers to prove their concepts. However, ideally the development of an aptamer-based assay should start from the selection of aptamers to ensure their proper functionality in real samples. For instance information on the sample matrix can be implemented within counter-selection steps to discard aptamer candidates that show cross-reactivity to matrix components or critical interferents. In general, a larger consideration of the analytical use during selection and characterization of aptamers have been shown to increase the applicability of aptamers. Therefore, this review is a short, subjective view on trends in aptamer development highlighting factors to consider during their selection for a successful analytical application.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Chemistry, Molecular Biology and Pathobiochemistry, Semmelweis University, Tűzoltó u. 37-47, H-1094 Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Zsuzsanna
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Szeitner
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Chemistry, Molecular Biology and Pathobiochemistry, Semmelweis University, Tűzoltó u. 37-47, H-1094 Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Judit
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: András
authors.affiliation: MTA-BME "Lendület" Chemical Nanosensors Research Group, Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Szent Gellért tér 4, H-1111 Budapest, Hungary. Electronic address: robertgy@mail.bme.hu.
authors.forename: Róbert E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Gyurcsányi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Chemistry, Molecular Biology and Pathobiochemistry, Semmelweis University, Tűzoltó u. 37-47, H-1094 Budapest, Hungary; MTA-BME Technical Analytical Chemistry Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Szent Gellért tér 4, H-1111 Budapest, Hungary. Electronic address: meszaros.tamas@med.semmelweis-univ.hu.
authors.forename: Tamás
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mészáros
mesh_terms: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide / Q000737:chemistry*; D001681:Biological Assay / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D052156:SELEX Aptamer Technique / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide
keywords: Aptamer assay; Aptamer selection; Bioanalysis; Counter-selection; SELEX