Researchers optimize aptamer with enhanced myelin-binding properties for MS treatment

New Rochelle, NY, March 27, 2019–A new study has demonstrated the enhanced ability of an optimized 20-nucleotide derivative of a larger DNA aptamer to bind myelin in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis. The study, which also provides the first evidence of cross-reactivity of this myelin-binding aptamer with human brain cells, is published in Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. Click here to read the full-text of this open access article on the Nucleic Acid Therapeutics website.

The laboratories of L. James Maher, III and Moses Rodriguez from Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science (Rochester, MN) coauthored the article entitled “Optimization of a 40-mer Antimyelin DNA Aptamer Identifies a 20-mer with Enhanced Properties for Potential Multiple Sclerosis Therapy.” The researchers took a 20-nucleotide region of a parental 40-nucleotide myelin-binding DNA aptamer and used a rational, non-biased approach to molecular evolution to optimize the 20-nucleotide minimal sequence for improved myelin binding. They conclude that due to its cross-reactivity with human oligodendroglioma cells in vitro, it represents a promising lead molecule for further investigation.

“The authors highlight the value of aptamer refinement of a therapeutic for multiple sclerosis treatment and present a novel application for cell imaging,” says Executive Editor Graham C. Parker, PhD, The Carman and Ann Adams Department of Pediatrics, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Detroit, MI.

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers T32GM065841 and F30CA220660. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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Nucleic Acid Therapeutics is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published bimonthly in print and online that focuses on cutting-edge basic research, therapeutic applications, and drug development using nucleic acids or related compounds to alter gene expression. The Journal is under the editorial leadership of Co-Editors-in-Chief Bruce A. Sullenger, PhD, Duke Translational Research Institute, Duke University Medical Center and Annemieke Aartsma-Rus, PhD, Leiden University Medical Center, and Executive Editor Graham C. Parker, PhD. Nucleic Acid Therapeutics is the official journal of the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Nucleic Acid Therapeutics website.

The Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society is an open, non-profit forum to foster academia- and industry-based research and development of oligonucleotide therapeutics. The society brings together the expertise from different angles of oligonucleotide research to create synergies and to bring the field of oligonucleotides to its full therapeutic potential.

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Human Gene Therapy, Assay and Drug Development Technologies, Applied In Vitro Toxicology, and DNA and Cell Biology. Its biotechnology trade magazine, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry’s most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm’s 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.