Abstract
Various hemoproteins in blood can be used as biomarkers to identify a variety of diseases. Albumin, γ-globulin and fibrinogen are regarded as indicators for kidney/hepatorenal syndromes, inflammation and thrombosis. Traditional hemodialysis uses semi-permeable membranes and antibody conjugated columns. However, these methods only filter small molecules and antibody-based hemodialysis columns may have cross-reactions with other essential proteins. In this study, aptamers with high affinity and specificity towards these above-mentioned hemoproteins have been selected by using a systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment process, involving positive, negative and in-blood selection procedures. Furthermore, a new multiple-layer micro-fluidic system using these three hemoprotein-specific aptamers has been demonstrated for hemodialysis.