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Brown A, Brill J, Amini R, Nurmi C, Li Y. Development of Better Aptamers: Structured Library Approaches, Selection Methods, and Chemical Modifications. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2024; 63:e202318665. [PMID: 38253971 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202318665] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2023] [Revised: 01/22/2024] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 01/24/2024]
Abstract
Systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) has been used to discover thousands of aptamers since its development in 1990. Aptamers are short single-stranded oligonucleotides capable of binding to targets with high specificity and selectivity through structural recognition. While aptamers offer advantages over other molecular recognition elements such as their ease of production, smaller size, extended shelf-life, and lower immunogenicity, they have yet to show significant success in real-world applications. By analyzing the importance of structured library designs, reviewing different SELEX methodologies, and the effects of chemical modifications, we provide a comprehensive overview on the production of aptamers for applications in drug delivery systems, therapeutics, diagnostics, and molecular imaging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alex Brown
- Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4 K1, Canada
| | - Jake Brill
- Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4 K1, Canada
| | - Ryan Amini
- Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4 K1, Canada
| | - Connor Nurmi
- Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4 K1, Canada
| | - Yingfu Li
- Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4 K1, Canada
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Lafi Z, Gharaibeh L, Nsairat H, Asha N, Alshaer W. Aptasensors: employing molecular probes for precise medical diagnostics and drug monitoring. Bioanalysis 2023; 15:1439-1460. [PMID: 37847048 DOI: 10.4155/bio-2023-0141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Accurate detection and monitoring of therapeutic drug levels are vital for effective patient care and treatment management. Aptamers, composed of single-stranded DNA or RNA molecules, are integral components of biosensors designed for both qualitative and quantitative detection of biological samples. Aptasensors play crucial roles in target identification, validation, detection of drug-target interactions and screening potential of drug candidates. This review focuses on the pivotal role of aptasensors in early disease detection, particularly in identifying biomarkers associated with various diseases such as cancer, infectious diseases and cardiovascular disorders. Aptasensors have demonstrated exceptional potential in enhancing disease diagnostics and monitoring therapeutic drug levels. Aptamer-based biosensors represent a transformative technology in the field of healthcare, enabling precise diagnostics, drug monitoring and disease detection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zainab Lafi
- Pharmacological & Diagnostic Research Center, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Amman, 19328, Jordan
| | - Lobna Gharaibeh
- Pharmacological & Diagnostic Research Center, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Amman, 19328, Jordan
| | - Hamdi Nsairat
- Pharmacological & Diagnostic Research Center, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Amman, 19328, Jordan
| | - Nisreen Asha
- Cell Therapy Center, The University of Jordan, Amman, 11942, Jordan
| | - Walhan Alshaer
- Cell Therapy Center, The University of Jordan, Amman, 11942, Jordan
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Escobar A, Diab-Liu A, Bosland K, Xu CQ. Microfluidic Device-Based Virus Detection and Quantification in Future Diagnostic Research: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic. BIOSENSORS 2023; 13:935. [PMID: 37887128 PMCID: PMC10605122 DOI: 10.3390/bios13100935] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2023] [Revised: 09/19/2023] [Accepted: 09/21/2023] [Indexed: 10/28/2023]
Abstract
The global economic and healthcare crises experienced over the past three years, as a result of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has significantly impacted the commonplace habits of humans around the world. SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) phenomenon, has contributed to the deaths of millions of people around the world. The potential diagnostic applications of microfluidic devices have previously been demonstrated to effectively detect and quasi-quantify several different well-known viruses such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), influenza, and SARS-CoV-2. As a result, microfluidics has been further explored as a potential alternative to our currently available rapid tests for highly virulent diseases to better combat and manage future potential outbreaks. The outbreak management during COVID-19 was initially hindered, in part, by the lack of available quantitative rapid tests capable of confirming a person's active infectiousness status. Therefore, this review will explore the use of microfluidic technology, and more specifically RNA-based virus detection methods, as an integral part of improved diagnostic capabilities and will present methods for carrying the lessons learned from COVID-19 forward, toward improved diagnostic outcomes for future pandemic-level threats. This review will first explore the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and how diagnostic technology was shown to have required even greater advancements to keep pace with the transmission of such a highly infectious virus. Secondly, the historical significance of integrating microfluidic technology in diagnostics and how the different types of genetic-based detection methods may vary in their potential practical applications. Lastly, the review will summarize the past, present, and future potential of RNA-based virus detection/diagnosis and how it might be used to better prepare for a future pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andres Escobar
- School of Biomedical Engineering, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada
| | - Alex Diab-Liu
- Department of Engineering Physics, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada
| | - Kamaya Bosland
- Department of Engineering Physics, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada
| | - Chang-Qing Xu
- School of Biomedical Engineering, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada
- Department of Engineering Physics, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada
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Woldekidan HB, Woldesemayat AA, Adam G, Tafesse M, Thimiri Govinda Raj DB. Aptamer-Based Tumor-Targeted Diagnosis and Drug Delivery. ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY 2023; 1409:173-192. [PMID: 35896892 DOI: 10.1007/5584_2022_732] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/09/2022]
Abstract
Early cancer identification is crucial for providing patients with safe and timely therapy. Highly dependable and adaptive technologies will be required to detect the presence of biological markers for cancer at very low levels in the early stages of tumor formation. These techniques have been shown to be beneficial in encouraging patients to develop early intervention plans, which could lead to an increase in the overall survival rate of cancer patients. Targeted drug delivery (TDD) using aptamer is promising due to its favorable properties. Aptamer is suitable for superior TDD system candidates due to its desirable properties including a high binding affinity and specificity, a low immunogenicity, and a chemical composition that can be simply changed.Due to these properties, aptamer-based TDD application has limited drug side effect along with organ damages. The development of aptasensor has been promising in TDD for cancer cell treatment. There are biomarkers and expressed molecules during cancer cell development; however, only few are addressed in aptamer detection study of those molecules. Its great potential of attachment of binding to specific target molecule made aptamer a reliable recognition element. Because of their unique physical, chemical, and biological features, aptamers have a lot of potential in cancer precision medicine.In this review, we summarized aptamer technology and its application in cancer. This includes advantages properties of aptamer technology over other molecules were thoroughly discussed. In addition, we have also elaborated the application of aptamer as a direct therapeutic function and as a targeted drug delivery molecule (aptasensor) in cancer cells with several examples in preclinical and clinical trials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haregewoin Bezu Woldekidan
- Synthetic Nanobiotechnology and Biomachines, Synthetic Biology and Precision Medicine Centre, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Pretoria, South Africa
- Department of Biotechnology, College of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Adugna A Woldesemayat
- Department of Biotechnology, College of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Getachew Adam
- Sustainable Energy Center of Excellence, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Mesfin Tafesse
- Synthetic Nanobiotechnology and Biomachines, Synthetic Biology and Precision Medicine Centre, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Pretoria, South Africa
- Biotechnology and Bioprocessing Center of Excellence, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Deepak B Thimiri Govinda Raj
- Synthetic Nanobiotechnology and Biomachines, Synthetic Biology and Precision Medicine Centre, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Pretoria, South Africa.
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Xie X, Wang Y, Siu SY, Chan CW, Zhu Y, Zhang X, Ge J, Ren K. Microfluidic synthesis as a new route to produce novel functional materials. BIOMICROFLUIDICS 2022; 16:041301. [PMID: 36035887 PMCID: PMC9410731 DOI: 10.1063/5.0100206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2022] [Accepted: 07/28/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
By geometrically constraining fluids into the sub-millimeter scale, microfluidics offers a physical environment largely different from the macroscopic world, as a result of the significantly enhanced surface effects. This environment is characterized by laminar flow and inertial particle behavior, short diffusion distance, and largely enhanced heat exchange. The recent two decades have witnessed the rapid advances of microfluidic technologies in various fields such as biotechnology; analytical science; and diagnostics; as well as physical, chemical, and biological research. On the other hand, one additional field is still emerging. With the advances in nanomaterial and soft matter research, there have been some reports of the advantages discovered during attempts to synthesize these materials on microfluidic chips. As the formation of nanomaterials and soft matters is sensitive to the environment where the building blocks are fed, the unique physical environment of microfluidics and the effectiveness in coupling with other force fields open up a lot of possibilities to form new products as compared to conventional bulk synthesis. This Perspective summarizes the recent progress in producing novel functional materials using microfluidics, such as generating particles with narrow and controlled size distribution, structured hybrid materials, and particles with new structures, completing reactions with a quicker rate and new reaction routes and enabling more effective and efficient control on reactions. Finally, the trend of future development in this field is also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinying Xie
- Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong 999077, China
| | - Yisu Wang
- Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong 999077, China
| | - Sin-Yung Siu
- Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong 999077, China
| | - Chiu-Wing Chan
- Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong 999077, China
| | | | - Xuming Zhang
- Department of Applied Physics, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China
| | | | - Kangning Ren
- Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: and
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Tabuchi T, Yokobayashi Y. High-throughput screening of cell-free riboswitches by fluorescence-activated droplet sorting. Nucleic Acids Res 2022; 50:3535-3550. [PMID: 35253887 PMCID: PMC8989549 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkac152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2022] [Revised: 02/15/2022] [Accepted: 02/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Cell-free systems that display complex functions without using living cells are emerging as new platforms to test our understanding of biological systems as well as for practical applications such as biosensors and biomanufacturing. Those that use cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) systems to enable genetically programmed protein synthesis have relied on genetic regulatory components found or engineered in living cells. However, biological constraints such as cell permeability, metabolic stability, and toxicity of signaling molecules prevent development of cell-free devices using living cells even if cell-free systems are not subject to such constraints. Efforts to engineer regulatory components directly in CFPS systems thus far have been based on low-throughput experimental approaches, limiting the availability of basic components to build cell-free systems with diverse functions. Here, we report a high-throughput screening method to engineer cell-free riboswitches that respond to small molecules. Droplet-sorting of riboswitch variants in a CFPS system rapidly identified cell-free riboswitches that respond to compounds that are not amenable to bacterial screening methods. Finally, we used a histamine riboswitch to demonstrate chemical communication between cell-sized droplets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takeshi Tabuchi
- Nucleic Acid Chemistry and Engineering Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna, Okinawa 904-0495, Japan
| | - Yohei Yokobayashi
- Nucleic Acid Chemistry and Engineering Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna, Okinawa 904-0495, Japan
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