Nucleic Acid Aptamers: New Tools in Diagnosis and Therapy

Aptamers are short single-stranded nucleotides (or peptide) folded into particular three-dimensional structure which can bind to their targets with high specificity and affinity. Small size, inexpensive and rapid production process, low immunogenicity and high stability, made them very attractive biomolecules in some investigational fields especially in planning of innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. In this review, we have described the process of nucleic acid aptamers development, advantages and disadvantages of aptamers compared to antibodies, and potential applications of these new agents in medicine. Limitations of aptamers and existing answers to overcome this limitations has also been discussed.