Biophysical characterization of the interaction between HIV-p24 protein and the conjugate HIV-p24 derived aptamer
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Date
2019
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University of Zululand
Abstract
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus epidemic is a serious world health concern. Reports
show that 75% of people, who are aware of this disease, live with it, and the remaining 25%,
which constitute over 9 million people are still in need of access to HIV testing services, with
some waiting for the window period to subside. Early diagnosis is imperative for mitigating
viral transmission. Unfortunately, available rapid tools are serologically based and may not
detect the virus in time and moreover other methods, such as PCR methods and p24 antigen
tests, have limitations resulting in diagnostic delays amongst others. The HIV-p24 protein is
overexpressed during the early and last stages of viral infection. This makes it an important
biomarker, requiring sensitive and efficient point-of-care diagnostic tools, which are based on
biological agents that do not elicit immune response and therefore can diagnose the virus,
especially before seroconversion. In this study, two DNA aptamers (agents that bind to their
targets with high affinity and specificity) have been successfully synthesized, in vitro through
systemic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) and studied in conjunction
to the HIV p24 biomarker. Subsequently, bioinformatics was used to characterize the
interaction between each aptamer and the target protein which displayed strong interactions.
These interactions are crucial in the development of an alternative diagnostic tool which will
detectthevirusatearlystageorwindowperiod
Description
A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the academic requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology in the Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering, University of Zululand, 2019.
Keywords
HIV-p24, aptamer, interactionstudies