In addition, EGb761 showed favorable effects on glucose homeostasis and on adiponectin and hsCRP levels. Among subcomponents of EGb761, kaemferol and quercetin seem to play a major role in the prevention of atherosclerosis. These findings support an emerging role of EGb761 in reducing cardiometabolic risks. Specific intervention studies are needed to confirm the positive effects of EGb761 in type 2 diabetic patients. The role of AP-1 proteins has been widely studied; however, discerning the distinct roles of individual dimer compositions remains challenging. Functions unique to cJun homodimers, but not cJun/cFos heterodimers have been identified. For example, cJun homodimers are not only capable of binding cis-elements on DNA to activate transcription but can also function as PFM 01 transcriptional co-activators by binding directly to other DNA-bound transcription factors, such as NFATc2 and PU.1. This function is unique to cJun/cJun and does not occur with cJun/ cFos. Additionally, by expression of dimer specific mutants it was shown that cJun/cJun, cJun/Fra2, and cJun/ATF2 dimers have distinct functions in cJun induced transformation of chicken embryo fibroblasts. Specifically, cJun/Fra2 induces anchorage independence and cJun/ATF2 induces growth factor independence. Another strategy to delineate unique functions of AP-1 dimers employed covalently tethering different combinations of Jun and Fos partners and testing their activities in cells. Different dimer compositions showed promoter-specific differences in activating transcription of reporter genes. Together, these observations underscore the importance of developing tools to distinguish between different AP-1 dimer compositions in cells. Current strategies of gene knockout, siRNA knockdown, and transcription factor decoys have provided substantial insight into the role of AP-1 proteins in response to various stimuli. These strategies, however, do not discern the biological functions of different dimer compositions containing the same protein. For example, an AP-1 DNA decoy, which is an exogenous oligonucleotide containing the consensus AP-1 site, can sequester AP-1 proteins from gene promoters; however, this decoy targets all AP-1 dimers regardless of their composition. Moreover, knocking down cJun will inhibit the function of cJun/cJun homodimers as well as cJun heterodimers such as cJun/cFos. Similarly, ChIP assays against cJun cannot distinguish between sites of homo and heterodimer occupancy. Given the importance of AP-1 dimer composition on biological processes, research tools that allow us to discern between AP-1 dimers with different compositions would be very useful. SELEX is an iterative selection process to identify aptamers from a large DNA or RNA library that bind the desired target. Here, we used SELEX to isolate a DNA aptamer that binds cJun; biochemical experiments found that the aptamer has high affinity and specificity for cJun/cJun homodimers Phenserine compared to cJun/cFos heterodimers.