Advantages Of Aptamers Over Antibodies
For diagnosis of viral infection aptamers are clearly the preferred choice over antibodies in the developing world where the need for consistent refrigeration may pose a problem. We have been able to achieve the necessary levels of sensitivity with aptamers in rapid flow-through tests with a proprietary (patent filed) application involving hybrid gold nanoparticles (GNPs).
A significant advantage of aptamers over antibodies with GNPs is that we can pack a lot more on per particle (average of 150 detection aptamers per 20 nm diameter GNP). This capacity allows us to create GNPs loaded with both detection aptamers and signal oligonucleotides, thus amplifying the signal per target binding event.
Below are some 5 key advantages of Aptamers over antibodies :
- The stability of aptamers is higher.
- In terms of manufacturing, the generation of aptamers is a cheaper, easier and faster process.
- the specificity and thus variability of results are significantly lower, since aptamers are chemically synthesized.
- Aptamers are resistant to high temperatures and their regeneration can be easily performed and repeated.
- aptamers are smaller than antibodies and therefore can be easily transported and penetrate tissues better than antibodies.
For many years, researchers have been raising and modifying antibodies to detect specific circulating proteins and develop targeted therapeutic agents. While antibodies are highly effective for a wide range of applications, there are unique aptamer advantages that can overcome some difficult scientific challenges.
In our next blog we would be talking about difficult scientific challenges that aptamers can overcome
Learn more about aptamer selection for your project.
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