Development of Aptamer Therapeutics and Structural Biology

Abstract

Aptamers are nucleic acids that bind to a target molecule with high affinity and specificity, which are selected from systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment （SELEX）. Because of their high affinity and specificity, aptamers are strong candidates of next generation molecular targeted agents. However, for the development of aptamer therapeutics, chemical modification of aptamers is required to improve their nuclease resistance. For the efficient modification, structural information could be important. In this review, I describe structural biology of aptamers.