Biomarker Discovery & Diagnostics

Aptamers are biorecognition elements or ligands that bind with high affinity and specificity to virtually any target or antigen on cells, tissues, and within biological fluids.

But what if the identity of the target, antigen, or biomarker is unknown?

If provided with a set of samples considered positive and a separate set considered negative based on a clinical diagnosis, aptamers can be selected to respond specifically to the positive set over the negative — even though the biomarker is not known. By employing these positive-responsive aptamer ligands in a pull-down assay, followed by mass-spec analysis, the 'positive biomarker(s)' can be identified.