Aptamer-based Membrane Protein Analysis and Molecular Diagnostics

Membrane proteins are vital components of the cell membrane and play crucial roles in various cellular activities. Analysis of membrane proteins is of paramount importance for studying molecular events inside cells and organisms and holds promising prospects for early disease diagnosis and treatment assessment. Benefiting from obvious merits including high affinity, high specificity and ease of modification, aptamers have been regarded as ideal molecular recognition elements in membrane protein analysis and molecular diagnostics strategies. This review summarised recent advances in membrane protein-specific aptamer screening, aptamer-based static and dynamic membrane protein analysis, and aptamer-based molecular diagnostic techniques. Prospects and challenges were also discussed.