Hey! It has been a while since my last post and I will start to catch up on my blogs. I recently derived inspiration for writing this post about aptamers due to my involvement in an aptamer related medical program. I recently began the program and became intrigued instantaneously. This gave me the need to share my information and some uses.
What are aptamers?
Aptamers are single stranded RNA or DNA that attach to proteins in order to perform a specific function. They can assume a variety of shapes due to their single loop structure. They are also incredibly versatile and are highly substrate specific. These aptamers fold into defined architectures and bind to targets such as proteins. Aptamers can serve as protein inhibitors, drug specific delivery systems, or drug detection. One aptamer that is commonly used is EWF biosensor used to detect the presence of cocaine.
Undisclosed public aptamers
Cocaine detection- Many of you may know that blood is checked for the presence of cocaine, but a good deal of those people don’t know that it is through the use of aptamers. To test for the presence of cocaine, an aptamer is combined in a tube along with the patient’s blood. If the test goes according to plan, the EWF biosensor’s wavelength will curve while in the presence of cocaine, indicating the patient’s drug consumption history. The results are shown in an 8.5 minute test and the amount of cocaine can also be measured.
Clinical trials system clearings- The three main clearance routes are the kidney, liver, or saturable mechanisms. This poses a significant problem in clinically ill patients with multisystem organ dysfunction. In order to avoid relying on the patient’s own clearance mechanisms, Rusconi developed the concept of antidote oligonucleotides that bind to the aptamer by Watson-Crick base pairing, preventing it from inhibiting its target protein. This means that the virus is unable to function and multiply, allowing the immune system to have a better fighting chance to kill the foreign entities.
Delivery systems- Aptamers can attach to the receptors on the cell membrane or can mediate themselves into the cell. This allowed drug delivery systems to be created. Since the aptamers are substrate specific, you can attach a portion of the virus to the RNA/DNA strand of the aptamer. The attached virus will go with where the aptamer binds and allows the correct amount of antibodies to produce. This method is commonly used in vaccines that target specific cells or parts of the body.
Conclusion
Aptamers have an infinite number of uses, and I barely began to touch on a few of them. They can serve as inhibitors, detectors, delivery systems, etc. It is a never ending race trying to keep up with the science world, and I hope to have inspired you to continue my research on aptamers and medicine. Thank you for reading this blog if you got to the end of it and I hope to see you soon for my next article!
Works Cited
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6035745/