Antisense antiviral agents: about the optimal approach

The vast majority of recent efforts to synthesize effective antisense preparations for antiviral therapy have been made by using oligonucleotides, agents able to inhibit only a relatively small portion of the viral genome. That is the main reason why this approach is far from optimal. The optimal approach, however, is the accomplishment of the total inhibition of the viral genome. Here, a general protocol for preparation of the antisense antiviral agents with optimal properties for in vivo application is proposed, irrespective of the viral genome nucleotide sequence.