26
L. Hao and H. Gu
1.4 Perspectives
Although the use of aptamers as diagnostics and therapy is still in its early stages,
it has already shown a promising future. However, there are some limitations for
various aptamer applications in the field of medical science. First, the application of
aptamers is still more suitable for laboratory setting due to the lower stability. After
all, the environment of body fluids of great complexity is different from the buffer so
that the aptamer might not be folded correctly thus compromising the efficiency of the
aptamer in vivo. Identifying high-quality aptamers with improved stability, simplified
synthesis, and optimal target specificity are always needed for further investigations.
Besides, the aptamer itself inherently possesses some defects, including associated
issues with unknown pharmacokinetics, toxicity, and cross-reactivity, which should
be resolved for well-defined clinical applications. It is believed that once the aspects
above are improved, it will promote medical diagnosis and disease treatment into a
new era.
References
1. Tuerk C, Gold L (1990) Systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment: RNA
ligands to bacteriophage T4 DNA polymerase. Science 249:505–510
2. Ellington AD, Szostak JW (1990) In vitro selection of RNA molecules that bind specific ligands.
Nature 346:818–822
3. Chen JL, Tong T, Wang HD (2016) Super-resolution imaging in glycoscience: new developments and challenges. J Innov Opt Health Sci 9
4. Gao HL, Qian J, Yang Z, Pang ZQ, Xi ZJ, Cao SJ, Wang YC, Pan SQ, Zhang S, Wang W,
Jiang XG, Zhang QZ (2012) Whole-cell SELEX aptamer-functionalised poly(ethyleneglycol)poly(epsilon-caprolactone) nanoparticles for enhanced targeted glioblastoma therapy. Biomaterials 33:6264–6272
5. Guo KT, Paul A, Schichor C, Ziemer G, Wendel HP (2008) Cell-SELEX: novel perspectives
of aptamer-based therapeutics. Int J Mol Sci 9:668–678
6. Rothlisberger P, Hollenstein M (2018) Aptamer chemistry. Adv Drug Deliv Rev 134:3–21
7. Lin Y, Qiu Q, Gill SC, Jayasena SD (1994) Modified RNA sequence pools for in vitro selection.
Nucleic Acids Res 22:5229–5234
8. Mendonsa SD, Bowser MT (2004) In vitro evolution of functional DNA using capillary
electrophoresis. J Am Chem Soc 126:20–21
9. Baker M (2012) RNA imaging in situ (vol 9, p 787, 2012). Nat. Methods 9:1031–1031
10. Berezovski M, Musheev M, Drabovich A, Krylov SN (2006) Non-SELEX selection of
aptamers. J Am Chem Soc 128:1410–1411
11. Berezovski M, Krylov SN (2002) Nonequilibrium capillary electrophoresis of equilibrium
mixtures—a single experiment reveals equilibrium and kinetic parameters of protein–DNA
interactions. J Am Chem Soc 124:13674–13675
12. Berezovski MV, Musheev MU, Drabovich AP, Jitkova JV, Krylov SN (2006) Non-SELEX:
selection of aptamers without intermediate amplification of candidate oligonucleotides. Nat
Protoc 1:1359–1369
13. Zhu C, Yang G, Ghulam M, Li L, Qu F (2019) Evolution of multi-functional capillary
electrophoresis for high-efficiency selection of aptamers. Biotechnol Adv 37:107432
L. Hao and H. Gu
1.4 Perspectives
Although the use of aptamers as diagnostics and therapy is still in its early stages,
it has already shown a promising future. However, there are some limitations for
various aptamer applications in the field of medical science. First, the application of
aptamers is still more suitable for laboratory setting due to the lower stability. After
all, the environment of body fluids of great complexity is different from the buffer so
that the aptamer might not be folded correctly thus compromising the efficiency of the
aptamer in vivo. Identifying high-quality aptamers with improved stability, simplified
synthesis, and optimal target specificity are always needed for further investigations.
Besides, the aptamer itself inherently possesses some defects, including associated
issues with unknown pharmacokinetics, toxicity, and cross-reactivity, which should
be resolved for well-defined clinical applications. It is believed that once the aspects
above are improved, it will promote medical diagnosis and disease treatment into a
new era.
References
1. Tuerk C, Gold L (1990) Systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment: RNA
ligands to bacteriophage T4 DNA polymerase. Science 249:505–510
2. Ellington AD, Szostak JW (1990) In vitro selection of RNA molecules that bind specific ligands.
Nature 346:818–822
3. Chen JL, Tong T, Wang HD (2016) Super-resolution imaging in glycoscience: new developments and challenges. J Innov Opt Health Sci 9
4. Gao HL, Qian J, Yang Z, Pang ZQ, Xi ZJ, Cao SJ, Wang YC, Pan SQ, Zhang S, Wang W,
Jiang XG, Zhang QZ (2012) Whole-cell SELEX aptamer-functionalised poly(ethyleneglycol)poly(epsilon-caprolactone) nanoparticles for enhanced targeted glioblastoma therapy. Biomaterials 33:6264–6272
5. Guo KT, Paul A, Schichor C, Ziemer G, Wendel HP (2008) Cell-SELEX: novel perspectives
of aptamer-based therapeutics. Int J Mol Sci 9:668–678
6. Rothlisberger P, Hollenstein M (2018) Aptamer chemistry. Adv Drug Deliv Rev 134:3–21
7. Lin Y, Qiu Q, Gill SC, Jayasena SD (1994) Modified RNA sequence pools for in vitro selection.
Nucleic Acids Res 22:5229–5234
8. Mendonsa SD, Bowser MT (2004) In vitro evolution of functional DNA using capillary
electrophoresis. J Am Chem Soc 126:20–21
9. Baker M (2012) RNA imaging in situ (vol 9, p 787, 2012). Nat. Methods 9:1031–1031
10. Berezovski M, Musheev M, Drabovich A, Krylov SN (2006) Non-SELEX selection of
aptamers. J Am Chem Soc 128:1410–1411
11. Berezovski M, Krylov SN (2002) Nonequilibrium capillary electrophoresis of equilibrium
mixtures—a single experiment reveals equilibrium and kinetic parameters of protein–DNA
interactions. J Am Chem Soc 124:13674–13675
12. Berezovski MV, Musheev MU, Drabovich AP, Jitkova JV, Krylov SN (2006) Non-SELEX:
selection of aptamers without intermediate amplification of candidate oligonucleotides. Nat
Protoc 1:1359–1369
13. Zhu C, Yang G, Ghulam M, Li L, Qu F (2019) Evolution of multi-functional capillary
electrophoresis for high-efficiency selection of aptamers. Biotechnol Adv 37:107432