Promising trial results suggest cancer vaccines work and could be used to target other tumours.

Chemical modifications expand the functional repertoire of nucleic acids, but the extent to which complex glycans can be integrated into genetic polymers remains largely unexplored. Glycosylated nucle...

The therapeutic and biotechnological utility of synthetic oligonucleotides is constrained by the limited chemical diversity of canonical nucleotides and their susceptibility to nuclease degradation. I...

Recent studies have demonstrated that stereopure oligonucleotide phosphorothioates (PS), with defined configuration, provide significant advantages over stereorandom mixtures in therapeutic oligonucle...

The therapeutic and biotechnological utility of synthetic oligonucleotides is constrained by the limited chemical diversity of canonical nucleotides and their susceptibility to nuclease degradation. Inspired by the hypermodified genomes of bacteriophages, ...

Alternative methods for the preparation of naïve libraries for SELEX experiments are in dire need, particularly when hydrophobic, bulky, and complex modification patterns are considered. Here, we exp...

Aptamers offer distinct advantages over conventional small molecules or antibodies due to their high affinity and specificity. Additional benefits, including small size and ease of modification, further enhance their biomedical potential. Nonetheless, their interaction capabilities remain constrained by the limited chemical diversity of natural nucleobases, restricting the repertoire of targets accessible in vitro and in vivo. This review highlights strategies to overcome these limitations by expanding the chemical diversity of aptamers, including sugar, backbone, and nucleobase modifications, as well as selection approaches for their identification. We discuss structural insights into modified aptamers and explain their potential in practical applications. Finally, key challenges are identified that must be addressed to fully achieve the therapeutic and diagnostic utility of chemically modified aptamers.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) harnesses the combination of light, oxygen, and photosensitizers to induce cell death via reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation. Given its intrinsic properties, PDT repres...

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) harnesses the combination of light, oxygen, and photosensitizers to induce cell death via reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation. Given its intrinsic properties, PDT repres...

Communications Chemistry, Published online: 15 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s42004-025-01629-5Chemical modifications of aptamers can enhance binding properties, however, the design of suitable functional groups remains challenging. Here, the authors introduce cyclooctatetraene (COT)-modified nucleotides in SELEX experiments, identifying COT-aptamers with low nM dissociation constants, highlighting the potential of three-dimensional ligands in aptamer discovery.

The inclusion of chemical modifications into oligonucleotides stabilizes their backbones against nuclease mediated degradation and improves their biological activity. Even though cellular, tissue, and...

Et si notre organisme devenait une usine à médicaments, capable de produire lui-même des anticorps pour lutter contre les virus ?

Storage of genetic information in DNA occurs through a unique ordering of canonical base pairs. However, this would not be possible in the absence of the sugar–phosphate backbone which is essential fo...

Storage of genetic information in DNA occurs through a unique ordering of canonical base pairs. However, this would not be possible in the absence of the sugar–phosphate backbone which is essential fo...

Decoration of aptamers with chemical modifications at the level of nucleobases grants access to alternative binding modes which often result in improved binding properties. Most functional groups invo...

Les travaux révolutionnaires de la biochimiste Katalin Karikó et du médecin Drew Weissman ont ouvert la voie à l’utilisation thérapeutique de l’ARNm avec un premier cas mondialement reconnu : celui de...

The longest oligos that can be chemically synthesized are considered to be 200-mers. Here, we report direct synthesis of an 800-mer green fluorescent protein gene and a 1728-mer Φ29 DNA polymerase gen...