Aptamer Selection for DNA Aptamers against Glioblastoma Biomarker

Abstract

Glioblastoma is an extremely invasive and deadly form of brain cancer, with median survival rates, after diagnosis, only being one year. Current diagnostics are extremely invasive and expensive. Our research goal is to select DNA aptamers with high-binding affinity to YKL-40, a biomarker found in urine, to allow for accessible and non-invasive diagnostics. The process of SELEX (Systematic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential enrichment) was used to find such an aptamer that binds strongly/specifically to YKL-40. From one round of successful selection, the amplification in both the bound and unbound pools showed a somewhat successful selection and potential specificity toward YKL-40, although, our team is determined to go through more rounds of SELEX to solidify these results. When we find an appropriate aptamer, it can be used to detect YKL-40.