Aptamers to Reduce Inflammatory AGE-RAGE Interaction

Researchers here discuss the use of aptamers that can bind to advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs). This prevents the AGEs from themselves binding to the receptor for AGEs (RAGE), an interaction that provokes inflammation. A sizable presence of circulating, short-lived AGEs is characteristic of the abnormal metabolism of obesity and obesity-related conditions such as type 2 diabetes. It is an open question as to how much of a contribution to the chronic inflammation of aging is provided by AGEs in people of a normal weight, eating a basically sensible diet, however. The only way to find out is to test a therapy of this nature, in which only the contribution of AGEs is suppressed, and then observe the results. As AGEs have been considered a promising target for therapeutic intervention in various diseases, a large number of compounds have been proposed as AGE formation inhibitors or AGE-RAGE interaction blockers. However, owing to their limited efficacy or potential adverse side effects in vivo, none of these compounds have reached clinical application. DNA aptamers are short single-stranded DNA sequences that can selectively bind to target molecules. Compared with protein antibodies, DNA aptamers have several advantages, including short generation time, low costs of manufacturing, no batch-to-batch variability, and high modifiability and thermal stability. RNA aptamers that can inhibit vascular endothelial growth factors are clinically approved for the treatment of ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs