title: Aptamers for respiratory syncytial virus detection.
abstract: The identification of the infectious agents is pivotal for appropriate care of patients with viral diseases. Current viral diagnostics rely on selective detection of viral nucleic acid or protein components. In general, detection of proteins rather than nucleic acids is technically more suitable for rapid tests. However, protein-based virus identification methods depend on antibodies limiting the practical applicability of these approaches. Aptamers rival antibodies in target selectivity and binding affinity, and excel in terms of robustness and cost of synthesis. Although aptamers have been generated for virus identification in laboratory settings, their introduction into routine virus diagnostics has not been realized, yet. Here, we demonstrate that the rationally designed SELEX protocol can be applied on whole virus to select aptamers, which can potentially be applied for viral diagnostics. This approach does not require purified virus protein or complicated virus purification. The presented data also illustrate that corroborating the functionality of aptamers with various approaches is essential to pinpoint the most appropriate aptamer amongst the panel of candidates obtained by the selection. Our protocol yielded aptamers capable of detecting respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), an important pathogen causing severe disease especially in young infants, at clinically relevant concentrations in complex matrices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Chemistry, Molecular Biology and Pathobiochemistry, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Krisztina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Percze
authors.affiliation: MTA-BME "Lendület" Chemical Nanosensors Research Group, Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Szt. Gellért tér 4, 1111, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Zoltán
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Szakács
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Chemistry, Molecular Biology and Pathobiochemistry, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Éva
authors.initials: É
authors.lastname: Scholz
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Chemistry, Molecular Biology and Pathobiochemistry, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Judit
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: András
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Chemistry, Molecular Biology and Pathobiochemistry, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Zsuzsanna
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Szeitner
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Radboud Center for Infectious Diseases, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Corné H van den
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Kieboom
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Radboud Center for Infectious Diseases, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Gerben
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ferwerda
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Radboud Center for Infectious Diseases, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marien I de
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Jonge
authors.affiliation: MTA-BME "Lendület" Chemical Nanosensors Research Group, Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Szt. Gellért tér 4, 1111, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Róbert E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Gyurcsányi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Chemistry, Molecular Biology and Pathobiochemistry, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.|MTA-BME Research Group for Technical Analytical Chemistry, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Tamás
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mészáros
mesh_terms: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D005454:Fluorescence Polarization; D006801:Humans; D010614:Pharynx / Q000821:virology; D011485:Protein Binding; D018357:Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000821:virology; D018113:Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Human / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D052156:SELEX Aptamer Technique; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide; D014764:Viral Proteins