{"title":"Considerations for Creating the Next Generation of RNA Therapeutics: Oligonucleotide Chemistry and Innate Immune Responses to Nucleic Acids.","authors":"Sudhir Agrawal","doi":"10.1089/nat.2024.29009.sud","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1089/nat.2024.29009.sud","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19412,"journal":{"name":"Nucleic acid therapeutics","volume":"651 ","pages":"37-51"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140784777","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nuria Suárez-Herrera, Alejandro Garanto, Rob W J Collin
{"title":"Understanding and Rescuing the Splicing Defect Caused by the Frequent <i>ABCA4</i> Variant c.4253+43G>A Underlying Stargardt Disease.","authors":"Nuria Suárez-Herrera, Alejandro Garanto, Rob W J Collin","doi":"10.1089/nat.2023.0076","DOIUrl":"10.1089/nat.2023.0076","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Pathogenic variants in <i>ABCA4</i> are the underlying molecular cause of Stargardt disease (STGD1), an autosomal recessive macular dystrophy characterized by a progressive loss of central vision. Among intronic <i>ABCA4</i> variants, c.4253+43G>A is frequently detected in STGD1 cases and is classified as a hypomorphic allele, generally associated with late-onset cases. This variant was previously reported to alter splicing regulatory sequences, but the splicing outcome is not fully understood yet. In this study, we attempted to better understand its effect on splicing and to rescue the aberrant splicing via antisense oligonucleotides (AONs). Wild-type and c.4253+43G>A variant-harboring maxigene vectors revealed additional skipping events, which were not previously detected upon transfection in HEK293T cells. To restore exon inclusion, we designed a set of 27 AONs targeting either splicing silencer motifs or the variant region and screened these in maxigene-transfected HEK293T cells. Candidate AONs able to promote exon inclusion were selected for further testing in patient-derived photoreceptor precursor cells. Surprisingly, no robust splicing modulation was observed in this model system. Overall, this research helped to adequately characterize the splicing alteration caused by the c.4253+43G>A variant, although future development of AON-mediated exon inclusion therapy for <i>ABCA4</i> is needed.</p>","PeriodicalId":19412,"journal":{"name":"Nucleic acid therapeutics","volume":" ","pages":"73-82"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140102082","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xuan Zhou, Xianglin Shi, Yannick Fillon, Firoz Antia, Thomas Pickel, Jing Yang, William Zhang, Armin Delavari, Jiabao Zhang
{"title":"Simplified Oligonucleotide Phosphorus Deprotection Process with Reduced 3-(2-Cyanoethyl) Thymidine Impurities.","authors":"Xuan Zhou, Xianglin Shi, Yannick Fillon, Firoz Antia, Thomas Pickel, Jing Yang, William Zhang, Armin Delavari, Jiabao Zhang","doi":"10.1089/nat.2023.0060","DOIUrl":"10.1089/nat.2023.0060","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Oligonucleotides have emerged as valuable new therapeutics. Presently, oligonucleotide manufacturing consists in a series of stepwise additions until the full-length product is obtained. Deprotection of the phosphorus backbone before cleavage and deprotection (C&D) by ammonolysis is necessary to control the 3-(2-cyanoethyl) thymidine (CNET) impurity. In this study, we demonstrate that the use of piperazine as a scavenger of acrylonitrile allows phosphorus deprotection and C&D to be combined in a single step. This reduces solvent consumption, processing time, and CNET levels. Additionally, we showed that substitution of piperazine for triethylamine in the phosphorus deprotection step of supported-synthesis leads to reduced reaction times and lower levels of CNET impurities.</p>","PeriodicalId":19412,"journal":{"name":"Nucleic acid therapeutics","volume":" ","pages":"83-89"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139692558","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jillian Belgrad, Hassan H Fakih, Anastasia Khvorova
{"title":"Nucleic Acid Therapeutics: Successes, Milestones, and Upcoming Innovation.","authors":"Jillian Belgrad, Hassan H Fakih, Anastasia Khvorova","doi":"10.1089/nat.2023.0068","DOIUrl":"10.1089/nat.2023.0068","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Nucleic acid-based therapies have become the third major drug class after small molecules and antibodies. The role of nucleic acid-based therapies has been strengthened by recent regulatory approvals and tremendous clinical success. In this review, we look at the major obstacles that have hindered the field, the historical milestones that have been achieved, and what is yet to be resolved and anticipated soon. This review provides a view of the key innovations that are expanding nucleic acid capabilities, setting the stage for the future of nucleic acid therapeutics.</p>","PeriodicalId":19412,"journal":{"name":"Nucleic acid therapeutics","volume":" ","pages":"52-72"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11302270/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140175822","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Natalia V Klementieva, Evgenii A Lunev, Anna A Shmidt, Elizaveta M Loseva, Irina M Savchenko, Ekaterina A Svetlova, Ivan I Galkin, Anna V Polikarpova, Evgeny V Usachev, Svetlana G Vassilieva, Valeria I Marina, Marina A Dzhenkova, Anna D Romanova, Anton V Agutin, Anna A Timakova, Denis A Reshetov, Tatiana V Egorova, Maryana V Bardina
{"title":"RNA Interference Effectors Selectively Silence the Pathogenic Variant <i>GNAO1</i> c.607 G > A <i>In Vitro</i>.","authors":"Natalia V Klementieva, Evgenii A Lunev, Anna A Shmidt, Elizaveta M Loseva, Irina M Savchenko, Ekaterina A Svetlova, Ivan I Galkin, Anna V Polikarpova, Evgeny V Usachev, Svetlana G Vassilieva, Valeria I Marina, Marina A Dzhenkova, Anna D Romanova, Anton V Agutin, Anna A Timakova, Denis A Reshetov, Tatiana V Egorova, Maryana V Bardina","doi":"10.1089/nat.2023.0043","DOIUrl":"10.1089/nat.2023.0043","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>RNA interference (RNAi)-based therapeutics hold the potential for dominant genetic disorders, enabling sequence-specific inhibition of pathogenic gene products. We aimed to direct RNAi for the selective suppression of the heterozygous <i>GNAO1</i> c.607 G > A variant causing <i>GNAO1</i> encephalopathy. By screening short interfering RNA (siRNA), we showed that <i>GNAO1</i> c.607G>A is a druggable target for RNAi. The si1488 candidate achieved at least twofold allelic discrimination and downregulated mutant protein to 35%. We created vectorized RNAi by incorporating the si1488 sequence into the short hairpin RNA (shRNA) in the adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector. The shRNA stem and loop were modified to improve the transcription, processing, and guide strand selection. All tested shRNA constructs demonstrated selectivity toward mutant <i>GNAO1</i>, while tweaking hairpin structure only marginally affected the silencing efficiency. The selectivity of shRNA-mediated silencing was confirmed in the context of AAV vector transduction. To conclude, RNAi effectors ranging from siRNA to AAV-RNAi achieve suppression of the pathogenic <i>GNAO1</i> c.607G>A and discriminate alleles by the single-nucleotide substitution. For gene therapy development, it is crucial to demonstrate the benefit of these RNAi effectors in patient-specific neurons and animal models of the GNAO1 encephalopathy.</p>","PeriodicalId":19412,"journal":{"name":"Nucleic acid therapeutics","volume":" ","pages":"90-99"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139432811","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"\"Goldilocks Modifications\" for mRNA Therapeutics Won the Nobel Prize.","authors":"Li Li","doi":"10.1089/nat.2023.0062","DOIUrl":"10.1089/nat.2023.0062","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19412,"journal":{"name":"Nucleic acid therapeutics","volume":" ","pages":"1-3"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11302211/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139575862","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Falk Ehmann, Andreas Kuhn, Anna Maria Gerdina Pasmooij, Anthony Humphreys, Arjon Van Hengel, Brian Dooley, Brigitte Anliker, Camilla Svensson, Daniel Capaldi, David Henshall, Emer Cooke, Haiyan Zhou, Hilde Bastaerts, Jeske Smink, Joop Van Gerven, Leonor Enes, Lubomir Nechev, Marcel Hoefnagel, Mariëtte Driessens, Michael Wenger, Oriane Blanquie, Pawel Widomski, Ralf Herold, René Thürmer, Sol Ruiz, Steffen Thirstrup, Susan Goody, Tal Zaks, Valentina Cordò, Annemieke M Aartsma-Rus
{"title":"Report of the European Medicines Agency Conference on RNA-Based Medicines.","authors":"Falk Ehmann, Andreas Kuhn, Anna Maria Gerdina Pasmooij, Anthony Humphreys, Arjon Van Hengel, Brian Dooley, Brigitte Anliker, Camilla Svensson, Daniel Capaldi, David Henshall, Emer Cooke, Haiyan Zhou, Hilde Bastaerts, Jeske Smink, Joop Van Gerven, Leonor Enes, Lubomir Nechev, Marcel Hoefnagel, Mariëtte Driessens, Michael Wenger, Oriane Blanquie, Pawel Widomski, Ralf Herold, René Thürmer, Sol Ruiz, Steffen Thirstrup, Susan Goody, Tal Zaks, Valentina Cordò, Annemieke M Aartsma-Rus","doi":"10.1089/nat.2023.0021","DOIUrl":"10.1089/nat.2023.0021","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>RNA-based medicines have potential to treat a large variety of diseases, and research in the field is very dynamic. Proactively, The European Medicines Agency (EMA) organized a virtual conference on February 2, 2023 to promote the development of RNA-based medicines. The initiative addresses the goal of the EMA Regulatory Science Strategy to 2025 to \"catalyse the integration of science and technology in medicines development.\" The conference focused on RNA technologies (excluding RNA vaccines) and involved different stakeholders, including representatives from academia, industry, regulatory authorities, and patient organizations. The conference comprised presentations and discussion sessions conducted by panels of subject matter experts. In this meeting report, we summarize the presentations and recap the main themes of the panel discussions.</p>","PeriodicalId":19412,"journal":{"name":"Nucleic acid therapeutics","volume":" ","pages":"4-11"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139087866","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Martin D Requena, Amy Yan, Telmo Llanga, Bruce A Sullenger
{"title":"Reversible Aptamer Staining, Sorting, and Cleaning of Cells (Clean FACS) with Antidote Oligonucleotide or Nuclease Yields Fully Responsive Cells.","authors":"Martin D Requena, Amy Yan, Telmo Llanga, Bruce A Sullenger","doi":"10.1089/nat.2023.0050","DOIUrl":"10.1089/nat.2023.0050","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The ability to reverse the binding of aptamers to their target proteins has received considerable attention for developing controllable therapeutic agents. Recently, use of aptamers as reversible cell-sorting ligands has also sparked interest. Antibodies are currently utilized for isolating cells expressing a particular cell surface receptor. The inability to remove antibodies from isolated cells following sorting greatly limits their utility for many applications. Previously, we described how a particular aptamer-antidote oligonucleotide pair can isolate cells and clean them. Here, we demonstrate that this approach is generalizable; aptamers can simultaneously recognize more than one cell type during fluorescent activated cell sorting (FACS). Moreover, we describe a novel approach to reverse aptamer binding following cell sorting using a nuclease. This alternative strategy represents a cleaning approach that does not require the generation of antidote oligonucleotides for each aptamer and will greatly reduce the cost and expand the utility of Clean FACS.</p>","PeriodicalId":19412,"journal":{"name":"Nucleic acid therapeutics","volume":" ","pages":"12-17"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11302193/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139575909","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brenda F Baker, Shuting Xia, Wesley Partridge, Jeffery A Engelhardt, Sotirios Tsimikas, Stanley T Crooke, Sanjay Bhanot, Richard S Geary
{"title":"Safety and Tolerability of GalNAc<sub>3</sub>-Conjugated Antisense Drugs Compared to the Same-Sequence 2'-<i>O</i>-Methoxyethyl-Modified Antisense Drugs: Results from an Integrated Assessment of Phase 1 Clinical Trial Data.","authors":"Brenda F Baker, Shuting Xia, Wesley Partridge, Jeffery A Engelhardt, Sotirios Tsimikas, Stanley T Crooke, Sanjay Bhanot, Richard S Geary","doi":"10.1089/nat.2023.0026","DOIUrl":"10.1089/nat.2023.0026","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The triantennary <i>N</i>-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc<sub>3</sub>) cluster has demonstrated the utility of receptor-mediated uptake of ligand-conjugated antisense drugs targeting RNA expressed by hepatocytes. GalNAc<sub>3</sub>-conjugated 2'-<i>O</i>-methoxyethyl (2'MOE) modified antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) have demonstrated a higher potency than the unconjugated form to support lower doses for an equivalent pharmacological effect. We utilized the Ionis integrated safety database to compare four GalNAc<sub>3</sub>-conjugated and four same-sequence unconjugated 2'MOE ASOs. This assessment evaluated data from eight randomized placebo-controlled dose-ranging phase 1 studies involving 195 healthy volunteers (79 GalNAc<sub>3</sub> ASO, 24 placebo; 71 ASO, 21 placebo). No safety signals were identified by the incidence of abnormal threshold values in clinical laboratory tests for either ASO group. However, there was a significant increase in mean alanine transaminase levels compared with placebo in the upper dose range of the unconjugated 2'MOE ASO group. The mean percentage of subcutaneous injections leading to local cutaneous reaction was 30-fold lower in the GalNAc<sub>3</sub>-conjugated ASO group compared with the unconjugated ASO group (0.9% vs. 28.6%), with no incidence of flu-like reactions (0.0% vs. 0.7%). Three subjects (4.2%) in the unconjugated ASO group discontinued dosing. An improvement in the overall safety and tolerability profile of GalNAc<sub>3</sub>-conjugated 2'MOE ASOs is evident in this comparison of short-term clinical data in healthy volunteers.</p>","PeriodicalId":19412,"journal":{"name":"Nucleic acid therapeutics","volume":" ","pages":"18-25"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139479072","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}