Antisense oligodeoxynucleotides

Oligodeoxynucleotides have been proposed as both in vitro and in vivo inhibitors of gene expression because of the specificity of Watson-Crick base pair hybridization. Phosphodiester oligodeoxynucleotides (normal DNA) cannot be used as drugs because they are nuclease sensitive. Significant efforts have been made to study phosphorothioate oligodeoxynucleotides, which have a sulfur atom substituted for one of the phosphate oxygen atoms at a nonbridging position. These oligodeoxynucleotides are nuclease resistant, and over the past year they have entered clinical trials. They have also been extensively examined in vitro and have been targeted to the bcr-abl and bcl2 messenger RNAs among others. Methods to maximize the intracellular oligodeoxynucleotide concentration have also been devised. However, significant problems remain, including the significant nonsequence specificity of phosphodiester oligodeoxynucleotides as well as questions of oligodeoxynucleotide uptake into and compartmentalization within cells. An improvement of our understanding of these phenomena is critical to the elaboration of this technology into a clinical therapeutic modality.