Development of Aptamer-Based TID Assays Using Thermophoresis and Microarrays

Aptamers are single-stranded oligonucleotides which can be used as alternative recognition elements for protein detection, because aptamers bind their targets with a high affinity similar to antibodies. Due to the target-induced conformational changes of aptamers, these oligonucleotides can be applied in various biosensing platforms. In this work, aptamers directed against the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were used as a model system. VEGF plays a key role in physiological angiogenesis and vasculogenesis. Furthermore, VEGF is involved in the development and growth of cancer and other diseases like age-related macular degeneration, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes mellitus, and neurodegenerative disorders. Detecting the protein biomarker VEGF is therefore of great importance for medical research and diagnostics. In this research, VEGF-binding aptamers were investigated for the systematic development of a target-induced dissociation (TID) assay utilizing thermophoresis and microarrays. The established aptamer-microarray allowed for the detection of 0.1 nM of VEGF. Furthermore, the systematic development of the TID method using the VEGF model protein could help to develop further TID assays for the detection of various protein biomarkers.