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As part of a program aimed at exploring the structure- activity relationships of 2',4'-bridged nucleic acid (BNA) containing antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), we report the synthesis and biophysical and biological properties of R- and S-5'-Me LNA modified oligonucleotides. We show that introduction of a methyl group in the (S) configuration at the 5'-position is compatible with the high affinity recognition of complementary nucleic acids observed with LNA. In contrast, introduction of a methyl group in the (R) configuration reversed the stabilization effect of LNA. NMR studies indicated that the R-5'-Me group changes the orientation around torsion angle γ from the +sc to the ap range at the nucleoside level, and this may in part be responsible for the poor hybridization behavior exhibited by this modification. In animal experiments, S-5'-Me-LNA modified gapmer antisense olignucleotides showed slightly reduced potency relative to the sequence matched LNA ASOs while improving the therapeutic profile.

To identify chemistries and strategies to improve the potency of MOE second generation ASOs, we have evaluated gapmer antisense oligonucleotides containing BNAs having N-O bonds. These modifications include N-MeO-amino BNA, N-Me-aminooxy BNA, 2',4'-BNA(NC)[NMe], and 2',4'-BNA(NC) bridged nucleoside analogues. These modifications provided increased thermal stability and improved in vitro activity compared to the corresponding ASO containing the MOE modification. Additionally, ASOs containing N-MeO-amino BNA, N-Me-aminooxy BNA, and 2',4'-BNA(NC)[NMe] modifications showed improved in vivo activity (>5-fold) compared to MOE ASO. Importantly, toxicity parameters, such as AST, ALT, liver, kidney, and body weights, were found to be normal for N-MeO-amino BNA, N-Me-aminooxy BNA, and 2',4'-BNA(NC)[NMe] ASO treated animals. The data generated in these experiments suggest that N-MeO-amino BNA, N-Me-aminooxy BNA, and 2',4'-BNA(NC)[NMe] are useful modifications for applications in both antisense and other oligonucleotide based drug discovery efforts.

The potency of second generation antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) in animals was increased 3- to 5 -fold (ED(50) approximately 2-5 mg/kg) without producing hepatotoxicity, by reducing ASO length (20-mer to 14-mer) and by employing novel nucleoside modifications that combine structural elements of 2'-O-methoxyethyl residues and locked nucleic acid. The ability to achieve this level of potency without any formulation agents is remarkable and likely to have a significant impact on the future design of ASOs as therapeutic agents.

A systematic study on the effect of 2'-sugar modifications (2'-F (2'-F-2'-deoxy-nucleoside residues), 2'-O-Me (2'-O-methyl-nucleoside residues), and 2'-O-MOE [2'-O-(2-methoxyethyl)]-nucleoside residues) in the antisense and sense strands of short interference RNA (siRNA) was performed in HeLa cells. The study of the antisense strand of siRNAs demonstrated that activity depends on the position of the modifications in the sequence. The siRNAs with modified ribonucleotides at the 5'-end of the antisense strand were less active relative to the 3'-modified ones. The 2'-F sugar was generally well-tolerated on the antisense strand, whereas the 2'-O-Me showed significant shift in activity depending on the position of modification. The 2'-O-MOE modification in the antisense strand resulted in less active siRNA constructs regardless of placement position in the construct. The incorporation of the modified residues, e.g., 2'-O-Me and 2'-O-MOE, in the sense strand of siRNA did not show a strong positional preference. These results may provide guidelines to design effective and stable siRNAs for RNA interference mediated therapeutic applications.

We have identified a small interfering RNA (siRNA) motif, consisting entirely of 2'-O-methyl and 2'-fluoro nucleotides, that displays enhanced plasma stability and increased in vitro potency. At one site, this motif showed remarkable >500-fold improvement in potency over the unmodified siRNA. This marks the first report of such a potent fully modified motif, which may represent a useful design for therapeutic oligonucleotides.

As part of a continued effort to identify inhibitors of hepatitis C viral (HCV) replication, we report here the synthesis and evaluation of a series of nucleoside analogues and their corresponding triphosphates. Nucleosides were evaluated for their ability to inhibit HCV RNA replication in a cell-based, subgenomic replicon system, while nucleoside triphosphates were evaluated for their ability to inhibit in vitro RNA synthesis mediated by the HCV RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, NS5B. 2'-C-Methyladenosine and 2'-C-methylguanosine were identified as potent inhibitors of HCV RNA replication, and the corresponding triphosphates were found to be potent inhibitors of HCV NS5B-mediated RNA synthesis. The data generated in the cell-based assay demonstrated a fairly stringent structure-activity relationship around the active nucleosides. Increase in steric bulk beyond methyl on C2, change in the stereo- or regiochemistry of the methyl substituent, or change of identity of the heterobase beyond that of the endogenous adenine or guanine was found to lead to loss of inhibitory activity. The results highlight the importance of the ribo configuration 2'- and 3'-hydroxy pharmacophores for inhibition of HCV RNA replication in the cell-based assay and demonstrate that inclusion of the 2'-C-methylribonucleoside pharmacophore leads to increased resistance to adenosine deaminase and purine nucleoside phosphorylase mediated metabolism.