RNA aptamer

An **RNA aptamer** is a synthetically generated, short, single-stranded RNA molecule that can fold into a specific three-dimensional conformation, enabling it to bind targets—such as proteins, small molecules, or even cells—with high specificity and affinity[1][2][3][4][5][7]. RNA aptamers are not therapeutic targets themselves but rather function as highly selective binding agents, commonly viewed as nucleic acid "antibody mimics", engineered using the SELEX (*Systematic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential enrichment*) method[1][3][4][5][7]. Their applications include diagnostics, therapeutics, controlled drug delivery, tissue engineering, and biomarker discovery, but an RNA aptamer is not a protein, receptor, or endogenous target—it is a ligand or binding probe[1][3][4][5].

Other names

Aptamernucleotide aptamerSELEX ligandRNA ligand