Cell-surface proteins are critical therapeutic targets and are vital to cellular communication, signaling, and homeostasis.

Aptamers are short chains of nucleic or amino acids that are complementary to a specific target molecule and, hence, bind only with that molecule. This means that they are frequently DNA or RNA ...

Nucleic-acid aptamers can be isolated robotically in vitro to provide novel molecular recognition tools for research. They can be developed for use in various applications, including diagnostics and ...

Cell-surface proteins are critical therapeutic targets, and are vital to cellular communication, signaling, and homeostasis. However, developing ...

This schematic shows the secondary structure of two aptamers. The complex shapes formed by base pairing (black lines connecting G-C and A-T bases) allow aptamers to bind their targets with high ...

Aptamers—folded oligonucleotides designed to bind a ligand of interest—are often used to make biosensors. But finding high-affinity, selective aptamers for very small molecules such as simple sugars ...

Aptamers are single-stranded oligonucleotides that fold into defined architectures and bind to targets such as proteins. In binding proteins they often inhibit protein–protein interactions and thereby ...

We have all heard of antibodies – proteins produced by our bodies to bind to viruses or bacteria, marking them for elimination by the immune system. But not all of us are familiar with aptamers: short ...

Drug-carrying DNA aptamers can deliver a one-two punch to leukemia by precisely targeting the elusive cancer stem cells that seed cancer relapses, researchers at the University of Illinois ...

Often described as synthetic antibodies, aptamers are single-stranded DNA or RNA molecules that fold into secondary structures which can bind to target molecules with high affinity and specificity. In ...

Aptamers, nucleic acids capable of selectively binding to viruses, proteins, ions, small molecules, and various other targets, are garnering attention in drug development as potential antibody ...

Drug-delivering aptamers that can precisely target leukemia stem cells with enhanced potency have been developed. Delivering anticancer drugs with specificity and potency to cancer stem cells is an ...