Boluwatife Dosunmu

A comparative analysis of aptamer and antibody-based affinity agents for the isolation of EVs as potential biomarkers in early detection of ovarian cancer:

The aim of the study is to isolate EVs from plasma samples using affinity agents such as antibodies and aptamers that are specific to ITGAV which is a protein that was proven to express in ovarian cancer cells. This will be done using microfluidic devices (EV CHIP) to facilitate efficient immobilization of affinity agents with the attachment of a photocleavable linker to the surface of the device to enable a proper capture and release of antibodies and aptamers that have bind to the target protein. The integrin subunit alpha V (ITGAV) has been implicated in ovarian cancer progression, making it an attractive target for affinity agents. The protein content of the isolated EVs will be quantified via BCA Assay to check if the aptamer has a better recovery rate compared to the antibody. The assay will help measure the absorbance values and the standard curve generated will provide information on the unknown protein concentration.

Furthermore, there are more benefits to using aptamers which include cost-effectiveness and stability compared to antibodies which are more expensive. According to the literature, aptamers have high stability, and they are synthesized chemically. Also, the aptamer is relatively low cost compared to antibodies which will be helpful when working with large sample sets and it is important for aptamer functionality during EV isolation. This research will then further test the specificity using the antibody and aptamer that are specific to the protein using some other sample set as a control.