About Aptamers

Aptamers are short, single-stranded oligo(deoxy)nucleotides that fold into a well-defined three-dimensional structure that interacts with their cognate target. Aptamers are usually identified by an in vitro screening process termed SELEX (Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential enrichment) towards a given target of choice or even against whole living cells, without prior knowledge of their cognate binding molecule. Due to their intrinsic properties, and compared with other therapeutically active targeting strategies, aptamers combine the advantages of being chemically synthesized, heat-stable, low-immunogenic, and amenable to a variety of modifications without loss of functionality, such as being equipped with nanoparticles, fluorophores, cytotoxic agents, and others.