title: Towards applications of synthetic genetic polymers in diagnosis and therapy.
abstract: Aptamers are a class of single-stranded nucleic acid ligands that can bind their targets with high specificity and affinities rivalling those of antibodies. First described over 20 years ago by Tuerk & Gold [1] and Ellington & Szostak [2] (who coined the name), their promise as both diagnostic and therapeutic agents remains to be realised. Key problems include the generally low biostability of the standard DNA/RNA or mixed RNA/2'F-DNA backbones under physiological conditions, limited chemical diversity of functional groups on the natural nucleobases, and the difficulty in reliably discovering aptamer ligands to some therapeutic targets. This review will describe recent progress in developing aptamer selection technology as well as expanding aptamer chemistry and informational complexity to improve aptamer discovery and properties.
authors.affiliation: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK.
authors.forename: Alexander I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arangundy-Franklin
authors.affiliation: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK. Electronic address: ph1@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Holliger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D052156:SELEX Aptamer Technique / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide; D012313:RNA; D004247:DNA