Methods for identifying nucleic acid ligands of human neutrophil elastase

A method for identifying nucleic acid ligands to elastase, comprising:

• a) contacting a candidate mixture of nucleic acids with elastase, wherein nucleic acids having an increased affinity to elastase relative to the candidate mixture nucleic acids may be partitioned from the remainder of the candidate mixture;
• b) partitioning the increased affinity nucleic acids from the remainder of the candidate mixture;
• and
• c) amplifying the increased affinity nucleic acids to yield a ligand-enriched mixture of nucleic acids, whereby nucleic acid ligands to elastase may be identified.