Antisense phosphorothioates as antivirals against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV)

For the past 10 years we have focused on the development of antisense treatments against viral infections such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV). We have demonstrated that phosphorothioate oligomers have in vitro anti-HIV activities and in vivo anti-HBV activity. In vitro anti-HIV activities of phosphorothioate oligodeoxynucleotides (S-oligo) were classified into sequence non-specific (non-antisense) and sequence specific (antisense). We found that toxicity of S-oligo could be also classified into the same 2 categories. Since some of non-specific toxicity is dependent on experimental conditions, in each experiment, we should pay attention to minimize non-specific toxicity of the oligomers.