Selection of DNA aptamers that bind to influenza A viruses with high affinity and broad subtype specificity

Many cases of influenza are reported worldwide every year. The influenza virus often acquires new antigenicity, which is known as antigenic shift; this results in the emergence of new virus strains, for which preexisting immunity is not found in the population resulting in influenza pandemics. In the event a new strain emerges, diagnostic tools must be developed rapidly to detect the novel influenza strain. The generation of high affinity antibodies is costly and takes time; therefore, an alternative detection system, aptamer detection, provides a viable alternative to antibodies as a diagnostic tool. In this study, we developed DNA aptamers that bind to HA1 proteins of multiple influenza A virus subtypes by the SELEX procedure. To evaluate the binding properties of these aptamers using colorimetric methods, we developed a novel aptamer-based sandwich detection method employing our newly identified aptamers. This novel sandwich enzyme-linked aptamer assay successfully detected the H5N1, H1N1, and H3N2 subtypes of influenza A virus with almost equal sensitivities. These findings suggest that our aptamers are attractive candidates for use as simple and sensitive diagnostic tools that need sandwich system for detecting the influenza A virus with broad subtype specificities.