Aptamer as a therapeutic agent for dengue infections.

Dengue virus (DENV) poses a significant global health burden, with current treatments being limited and primarily supportive. Aptamers are an emerging class of molecular recognition elements that are cheaper, less immunogenic and have no batch-to-batch variation as compared to antibodies. In light of their advantages, aptamers can potentially offer a novel approach to counteract DENV by targeting viral proteins or host factors essential for viral replication and pathogenesis. This review gleans the recent advancements in the development of aptamer-based therapeutic agents targeting dengue virus infection. The latest advancement on aptamers targeting specific dengue virus components such as capsid protein (C), envelope domain III (E3), and nonstructural proteins (NS); and their roles in inhibiting viral replication are highlighted. Although the development of aptamers as potential therapeutics for dengue infections is still in its early stages, based on their therapeutic potentiality, they hold immense potential for dengue viral treatment.