Discovery of Aptamers Targeting Epitopes of Cobra Venom Cytotoxin as Novel Antitoxins Using Computational and Conventional SELEX

Cytotoxin (CTX) is one of the cobra venom components responsible for skin tissue damage following snakebite. However, current antibody-based antivenoms are ineffective against the CTX. This research aims to develop DNA-based aptamers as an alternative to antivenom therapy. These single-stranded DNAs can recognise and interact with targets. More importantly, it possesses superior advantages over antibodies. To design aptamers that exhibit neutralising capabilities, the functional regions within the CTX were initially characterised. These regions served as targets for aptamer screening, which was achieved through computational and repeated selection approaches. Aptamers from this research showed significant CTX-neutralising ability by improving cell survival.