Development of RNA aptamer against toxic Aβ oligomer

淀粉样β蛋白（Aβ）是阿尔茨海默病的致病因子，具有聚集和神经毒性。已有大量文献证明Aβ寡聚体（毒性二聚体）与神经毒性密切相关。我们已经证明，在位置22和23的转角结构的形成在Aβ的寡聚化中起着关键作用。然而，由于Aβ具有强大的聚集能力，合成Aβ寡聚体非常困难。为了开发针对毒性Aβ二聚体的RNA适配体，我们合成了Aβ40二聚体，其中Ala 30被二氨基庚二酸取代作为分子间连接体。目前正在开发针对Aβ40二聚体的适体。

Amyloid β-protein (Aβ), a causative agent of Alzheimer’s disease, aggregates and shows neurotoxicity. It has been well documented that Aβ oligomer (toxic dimer) is mostly related to the neurotoxicity. We have demonstrated that the formation of turn structure at position 22 and 23 plays a critical role in the oligomerization of Aβ. However, it is quite difficult to synthesize Aβoligomer due to the potent ability of Aβ to aggregate. To develop RNA apatamer against toxic Aβdimer, we synthesized Aβ40 dimer, in which Ala30 was substituted with diaminopimelic used as anintermolecular linker. The development of aptamer against Aβ40 dimer is under way.