Abstract
Background Aptamers are single stranded (ss) DNA or RNA oligonudeotides [1] consisting of 25 to more than 200 nucleosides that can fold into three-dimensional structures [2] and bind selectively to antigens on the surface of human cells, [3,4] as well as small chemicals and proteins. Aptamers are selected from random sequence libraries and synthesized using a completely automated process called systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment or SELEX (Fig. 1). [3,5-7] They can also be chemically synthesized using solid-phase phosphoramidite chemistry. [8] Alteration of their sugar residues from 2'-hydroxyl group of the ribose to 2'-fluoro or 2'-amino make aptamers resistant to cleavage by cellular enzymes. Poly(ethyleneglycol) (PEGylation) can be used to increase clearance times of the aptamer from blood serum.
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