Organic compounds -- part of the class 532-570 series – Organic compounds – Carbohydrates or derivatives
Reexamination Certificate
2002-04-11
2004-01-06
Riley, Jezia (Department: 1637)
Organic compounds -- part of the class 532-570 series
Organic compounds
Carbohydrates or derivatives
C536S024300, C536S025300, C536S026600
Reexamination Certificate
active
06673912
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to nucleosidic monomers and oligomeric compounds incorporating such nucleosidic monomers, and methods of using such oligomeric compounds. The oligomeric compounds of the invention are useful for therapeutic and investigative purposes. More specifically, the present invention is directed to the use of oligomeric compounds having 2′-O-modifications that will increase their affinity and nuclease resistance.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is well known that most of the bodily states in mammals, including most disease states, are affected by proteins. Classical therapeutic modes have generally focused on interactions with such proteins in an effort to moderate their disease-causing or disease-potentiating functions. Recently, however, attempts have been made to moderate the actual production of such proteins by interactions with molecules that direct their synthesis, such as intracellular RNA. By interfering with the production of proteins, maximum therapeutic effect and minimal side effects may be realized. It is the general object of such therapeutic approaches to interfere with or otherwise modulate gene expression leading to undesired protein formation.
One method for inhibiting specific gene expression is the use of oligonucleotides. Oligonucleotides are now accepted as therapeutic agents with great promise, and are known to hybridize to single-stranded DNA or RNA molecules. Hybridization is the sequence-specific base pair hydrogen bonding of nucleobases of the oligonucleotide to the nucleobases of the target DNA or RNA molecule. Such nucleobase pairs are said to be complementary to one another. The concept of inhibiting gene expression through the use of sequence-specific binding of oligonucleotides to target RNA sequences, also known as antisense inhibition, has been demonstrated in a variety of systems, including living cells (see, e.g., Wagner et al., Science (1993) 260: 1510-1513; Milligan et al.,
J. Med. Chem
., (1993) 36:1923-37; Uhlmann et al.,
Chem. Reviews
, (1990) 90:543-584; Stein et al.,
Cancer Res
., (1988) 48:2659-2668).
The events that provide the disruption of the nucleic acid function by antisense oligonucleotides (Cohen in
Oligonucleotides: Antisense Inhibitors of Gene Expression
, (1989) CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, Fla.) are thought to be of two types. The first, hybridization arrest, denotes the terminating event in which the oligonucleotide inhibitor binds to the target nucleic acid and thus prevents, by simple steric hindrance, the binding of essential proteins, most often ribosomes, to the nucleic acid. Methyl phosphonate oligonucleotides: Miller, P. S. and Ts'O, P.O.P. (1987)
Anti
-
Cancer Drug Design,
2:117-128, and &agr;-anomer oligonucleotides are the two most extensively studied antisense agents which are thought to disrupt nucleic acid function by hybridization arrest.
The second type of terminating event for antisense oligonucleotides involves the enzymatic cleavage of the targeted RNA by intracellular RNase H. A 2′-deoxyribo-furanosyl oligonucleotide or oligonucleotide analog hybridizes with the targeted RNA and this duplex activates the RNase H enzyme to cleave the RNA strand, thus destroying the normal function of the RNA. Phosphorothioate oligonucleotides are the most prominent example of an antisense agent that operates by this type of antisense terminating event.
Oligonucleotides may also bind to duplex nucleic acids to form triplex complexes in a sequence specific manner via Hoogsteen base pairing (Beal et al.,
Science
, (1991) 251:1360-1363; Young et al.,
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci
. (1991) 88:10023-10026). Both antisense and triple helix therapeutic strategies are directed towards nucleic acid sequences that are involved in or responsible for establishing or maintaining disease conditions. Such target nucleic acid sequences may be found in the genomes of pathogenic organisms including bacteria, yeasts, fungi, protozoa, parasites, viruses, or may be endogenous in nature. By hybridizing to and modifying the expression of a gene important for the establishment, maintenance or elimination of a disease condition, the corresponding condition may be cured, prevented or ameliorated.
In determining the extent of hybridization of an oligonucleotide to a complementary nucleic acid, the relative ability of an oligonucleotide to bind to the complementary nucleic acid may be compared by determining the melting temperature of a particular hybridization complex. The melting temperature (T
m
), a characteristic physical property of double helices, denotes the temperature (in degrees centigrade) at which 50% helical (hybridized) versus coil (unhybridized) forms are present. T
m
is measured by using the UV spectrum to determine the formation and breakdown (melting) of the hybridization complex. Base stacking, which occurs during hybridization, is accompanied by a reduction in UV absorption (hypochromicity). Consequently, a reduction in UV absorption indicates a higher T
m
. The higher the T
m
, the greater the strength of the bonds between the strands.
Oligonucleotides may also be of therapeutic value when they bind to non-nucleic acid biomolecules such as intracellular or extracellular polypeptides, proteins, or enzymes. Such oligonucleotides are often referred to as “aptamers” and they typically bind to and interfere with the function of protein targets (Griffin, et al.,
Blood
, (1993), 81:3271-3276; Bock, et al.,
Nature
, (1992) 355: 564-566).
Oligonucleotides and their analogs (oligomeric compounds) have been developed and used for diagnostic purposes, therapeutic applications and as research reagents. For use as therapeutics, oligonucleotides preferably are transported across cell membranes or be taken up by cells, and appropriately hybridize to target DNA or RNA. These functions are believed to depend on the initial stability of the oligonucleotides toward nuclease degradation. A deficiency of unmodified oligonucleotides which affects their hybridization potential with target DNA or RNA for therapeutic purposes is their degradation by a variety of ubiquitous intracellular and extracellular nucleolytic enzymes referred to as nucleases. For oligonucleotides to be useful as therapeutics or diagnostics, the oligonucleotides should demonstrate enhanced binding affinity to complementary target nucleic acids, and preferably be reasonably stable to nucleases and resist degradation. For a non-cellular use such as a research reagent, oligonucleotides need not necessarily possess nuclease stability.
A number of chemical modifications have been introduced into oligonucleotides to increase their binding affinity to target DNA or RNA and resist nuclease degradation. Modifications have been made, for example, to the phosphate backbone to increase the resistance to nucleases. These modifications include use of linkages such as methyl phosphonates, phosphorothioates and phosphoro-dithioates, and the use of modified sugar moieties such as 2′-O-alkyl ribose. Other oligonucleotide modifications include those made to modulate uptake and cellular distribution. A number of modifications that dramatically alter the nature of the internucleotide linkage have also been reported in the literature. These include non-phosphorus linkages, peptide nucleic acids (PNA's) and 2′-5′ linkages. Another modification to oligonucleotides, usually for diagnostic and research applications, is labeling with non-isotopic labels, e.g., fluorescein, biotin, digoxigenin, alkaline phosphatase, or other reporter molecules.
Over the last ten years, a variety of synthetic modifications have been proposed to increase nuclease resistance, or to enhance the affinity of the antisense strand for its target mRNA (Crooke et al.,
Med. Res. Rev.,
1996, 16, 319-344; De Mesmaeker et al.,
Acc. Chem. Res.,
1995, 28, 366-374). A variety of modified phosphorus-containing linkages have been studied as replacements for the natural, readily cleaved phosphodiester linkage in oligonucleotides. In general, most of the
Cook Phillip Dan
Manoharan Muthiah
ISIS Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Riley Jezia
Woodcock & Washburn LLP
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