A novel thrombin binding aptamer containing a G-LNA residue Original Research Article

In this work, we report the solution structure, thermodynamic studies, and the pharmacological properties of a new modified thrombin binding aptamer (TBA) containing a G-LNA residue, namely d(5′-GGTTGGTGTGGTTGg-3′), where upper case and lower case letters represent DNA and LNA residues, respectively. NMR and CD spectroscopy, as well as molecular dynamics and mechanic calculations, has been used to characterize the three-dimensional structure. The modified oligonucleotide is characterized by a chair-like structure consisting of two G-tetrads connected by three edge-wise TT, TGT, and TT loops. d(5′-GGTTGGTGTGGTTGg-3′) is characterized by the same folding of TBA, being two strands parallel to each other and two strands oriented in opposite manner. This led to a syn–anti–syn–anti and anti–syn–anti–syn arrangements of the Gs in the two tetrads. d(5′-GGTTGGTGTGGTTGg-3′) possesses an anticoagulant activity, even if decreased with respect to the TBA.