Therapeutic molecules can be classified as low-, middle- and high-molecular weight drugs depending on their molecular masses. Antibodies represent high-molecular weight drugs and their clinical applications have been developing rapidly. Aptamers, on the other hand, are middle-molecular weight molecules that are short, single-stranded nucleic acid sequences that are selected in vitro from large oligonucleotide libraries based on their high affinity to a target molecule. Hence, aptamers can be thought of as a nucleic acid analog to antibodies. However, several viewpoints hold that the potential of aptamers arises from interesting characteristics that are distinct from, or in some cases, superior to those of antibodies. Recently, therapeutic middle molecules gain considerable attention as protein-protein interaction (PPI) inhibitors. This review summarizes the recent achievements in aptamer development in our laboratory in terms of PPI and non-PPI inhibitors.

根据其分子质量，治疗分子可分为低，中和高分子量药物。抗体代表高分子量药物，其临床应用正在迅速发展。另一方面，适体是中等分子量的分子，它们是在体外选择的短的单链核酸序列大型寡核苷酸文库基于对靶分子的高度亲和力而设计。因此，适体可以被认为是抗体的核酸类似物。然而，一些观点认为，适体的潜力是由与抗体的特征不同或在某些情况下优于抗体的特征引起的。最近，治疗性中间分子作为蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用（PPI）抑制剂获得了相当大的关注。这篇综述总结了根据PPI和非PPI抑制剂在我们实验室中适体开发方面的最新成就。