Synthetic immunostimulatory oligonucleotides in experimental and clinical practice

BackgroundOligonucleotides belong to a class of macromolecules with great potential for research and various therapeutic applications. Their mechanisms of action are extremely diverse, although they are rather homogeneous in composition. Single-stranded oligodeoxynucleotides are not only inhibitors of gene expression, but their CpG sequence motifs may activate the innate immune response. Recent progress made in preclinical and clinical testing, as well as the case of the most recently discovered RNA interference technology, will help to overcome efficacy problems of the previous approaches of the ‘standard therapy’ of such diseases as tumors and various infections.MethodsThe aim of this article is to present various therapeutic aspects of oligonucleotides, and to review the most significant therapeutic applications of synthetic oligonucleotides. This paper presents a comprehensive review of current literature on various therapeutic properties of synthetic oligonucleotides.ConclusionsThe available results gathered from preclinical and clinical studies suggest that TLR9-targeted therapy of oligonucleotides can stimulate both innate and adaptive immunity. It also appears that CpG ODNs are generally safe, although moderate adverse effects, based on a backbone-related mechanism have been reported. The presented studies demonstrate that adjuvant CpG ODN can unify an immune response that leads to enhanced antigen-specific Ab formation. CpG ODN may therefore provide a unique approach to enhancing the efficacy of immunization, including the strengthening of antitumor immunity.     

Use of RNA in drug design

This is a review of RNA as a target for small molecules (ribosomes, riboswitches, regulatory RNAs) and RNA-derived oligonucleotides as tools (antisense/small interfering RNA, ribozymes, aptamers/decoy RNA and microRNA). This review highlights the present state of research using RNA as a drug target or as a potential drug candidate and explains at which stage and to what extent rational design could eventually be involved. Special attention has been paid to the recent potential clinical applications of RNA either as drugs or drug targets. The review deals mainly with mechanistic approaches rather than with physicochemical or computational aspects of RNA-based drug design.     

CD40反义RNA对系统性红斑狼疮患者B淋巴细胞功能的影响

目的　探讨瞬间表达的CD4 0反义RNA对EB病毒转染的系统性红斑狼疮 (SLE)患者B淋巴细胞CD4 0分子表达、细胞增生以及免疫球蛋白 (Ig)分泌功能的影响。 方法　构建人CD4 0反义RNA的真核表达载体CD4 0 /pcDNA3,并将其转染入EB病毒转染的SLE患者B淋巴细胞中。应用流式细胞仪 (FACS)检测观察B淋巴细胞膜上CD4 0分子表达的变化 ;应用四甲基偶氮唑盐微量酶反应比色法 (MTT)观察反义CD4RNA对B淋巴细胞增生能力的影响 ;应用酶联免疫吸附试验(ELISA)测定转染后的B淋巴细胞的Ig分泌功能。结果　与转染pcDNA3空载体组相比 ,转染CD4 0 / pcDNA3组的CD4 0分子的表达明显降低 (P <0 0 1) ;细胞的增生能力明显降低 (P <0 0 5 ) ;细胞的Ig分泌功能明显受抑制 (P <0 0 1)。结论　CD4 0反义RNA对SLE患者的B淋巴细胞有明显的免疫调控作用。     

Optimized Cholesterol-siRNA Chemistry Improves Productive Loading onto Extracellular Vesicles

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