Pharmaceutical Applications of Nucleic Acid Aptamers: Recent Advances and Future Perspectives in Therapeutics, Biosensing, Bioanalysis, and Process Analysis
Abstract
Nucleic acid aptamers are single-stranded oligonucleotides that recognize diverse molecular targets with high affinity and specificity. Owing to their small size, amenability to chemical synthesis, and facile functionalization, aptamers are emerging as versatile alternatives or complements to antibodies in pharmaceutical sciences. This review summarizes recent advances from 2020 to 2025 in the pharmaceutical applications of aptamers, focusing on four areas: therapeutics, biosensing, bioanalysis, and process analysis. In therapeutics, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of Izervay (avacincaptad pegol) in 2023 marked a significant milestone, renewing interest in aptamer-based drug development. Aptamers are being explored for cancer therapy, immunotherapy, and neurodegenerative disease treatment, with several candidates in clinical trials. In diagnostics, aptamer-based biosensors (aptasensors) enable sensitive detection of tumor markers, disease biomarkers, and infectious disease agents, demonstrating particular utility in point-of-care applications. For bioanalysis of biopharmaceuticals, anti-idiotype aptamers serve as capture molecules for antibody drug quantification, offering advantages in batch-to-batch consistency and stability. In process analytical technology, aptamers are being applied to real-time monitoring of cell culture conditions and quality control of antibody drug manufacturing. These advances position nucleic acid aptamers as increasingly important tools in pharmaceutical sciences.
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BibTeX
@article{todoroki2026pharmaceutical,
title = {{Pharmaceutical Applications of Nucleic Acid Aptamers: Recent Advances and Future Perspectives in Therapeutics, Biosensing, Bioanalysis, and Process Analysis}},
author = {Kenichiro Todoroki},
journal = {Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1248/cpb.c25-00773},
url = {https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/cpb/74/8/74_c25-00773/_article},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Pharmaceutical Applications of Nucleic Acid Aptamers: Recent Advances and Future Perspectives in Therapeutics, Biosensing, Bioanalysis, and Process Analysis
AU - Kenichiro Todoroki
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/01
JO - Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin
DO - 10.1248/cpb.c25-00773
UR - https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/cpb/74/8/74_c25-00773/_article
AB - Nucleic acid aptamers are single-stranded oligonucleotides that recognize diverse molecular targets with high affinity and specificity. Owing to their small size, amenability to chemical synthesis, and facile functionalization, aptamers are emerging as versatile alternatives or complements to antibodies in pharmaceutical sciences. This review summarizes recent advances from 2020 to 2025 in the pharmaceutical applications of aptamers, focusing on four areas: therapeutics, biosensing, bioanalysis, and process analysis. In therapeutics, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of Izervay (avacincaptad pegol) in 2023 marked a significant milestone, renewing interest in aptamer-based drug development. Aptamers are being explored for cancer therapy, immunotherapy, and neurodegenerative disease treatment, with several candidates in clinical trials. In diagnostics, aptamer-based biosensors (aptasensors) enable sensitive detection of tumor markers, disease biomarkers, and infectious disease agents, demonstrating particular utility in point-of-care applications. For bioanalysis of biopharmaceuticals, anti-idiotype aptamers serve as capture molecules for antibody drug quantification, offering advantages in batch-to-batch consistency and stability. In process analytical technology, aptamers are being applied to real-time monitoring of cell culture conditions and quality control of antibody drug manufacturing. These advances position nucleic acid aptamers as increasingly important tools in pharmaceutical sciences.
SN - 1347-5223
SN - 0009-2363
ER -