Abstract
Since aptamers were first reported in the early 2000s, research on their use for the detection of health-relevant analytical targets has exploded. This review article provides a brief overview of the most recent developments in the field of aptamer-based biosensors for global health applications. The review provides a description of general aptasensing principles and follows up with examples of recent reports of diagnostics-related applications. These applications include detection of proteins and small molecules, circulating cancer cells, whole-cell pathogens, extracellular vesicles, and tissue diagnostics. The review also discusses the main challenges that this growing technology faces in the quest of bringing these new devices from the laboratory to the market.
Highlights
Promising candidates to contribute to the acceleration of the translation of conventional benchtop medical diagnostics into POC tests
This review aims to provide a timely summary of the recent progress in utilizing aptamerbased biosensors for POC diagnostics and global health
Aptamers often possess a high affinity for their targets, and this affinity is derived from their capability to fold upon binding with their target molecule
Summary
In 1990, within a brief time interval, three different laboratories reported their results on the development of an in vitro selection and amplification technique for the isolation of specific nucleic acid sequences that are able to bind to target molecules with high affinity and specificity [4,5,6]. SELEX involves iterative cycles of binding, recovery of bound DNA/RNA, and amplification (Figure 1) It begins with a nucleic acid library, obtained via combinatorial chemistry, typically consisting of at least 1014–1015 DNA or RNA molecules containing a random region flanked on both sides with fixed primer sequences for amplification. Advances in SELEX for the selection of desired high affinity aptamers have focused on the important and crucial steps of the conventional SELEX methodology, including alternate methods of target/library immobilization, separation and removal of unwanted aptamer molecules, DNA/RNA quantification, and binding efficiency determination. Once synthesized to bind to a specific target, an aptamer can be integrated into a sensing configuration to be used for the design of POC platforms, which are the main focus of this review, as well as for aptasensors used in a large variety of other societal sectors (e.g., agriculture, food safety, environment)
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