Nucleic Acid Aptamer for Recognizing Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Receptors

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a secreted protein that promotes angiogenesis, and VEGF-A is an important molecule that binds to vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR)-1 and VEGFR-2 and activates VEGF signaling pathway. We have successfully identified a set of nucleic acid aptamers that bind specifically to VEGFR-1 and VEGFR-2 using a method with systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) and nextgeneration sequencer that can identify even low -frequency sequences. In this comprehensive paper, we summarize the structural analyses of the obtained nucleic acid aptamers and their functions as (1) angiogenesis promoters and (2) signaling aptamers.