Oligonucleotides News and Research

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Oligonucleotides are short sequences of nucleotides (RNA or DNA), typically with twenty or fewer bases. Automated synthesizers allow the synthesis of oligonucleotides up to 160 to 200 bases.

ProNAi enrolls first patient in PNT2258 Phase II study for treatment of refractory or relapsed DLBCL

ProNAi Therapeutics Inc., a private hematology/oncology company dedicated to developing and commercializing a new class of therapeutics based on its proprietary DNAi platform, today reported that the first patient with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) has enrolled in the "Wolverine" Phase II study and been treated with PNT2258.

8 Jan 2015

Study: Injectable 3D vaccines could help prevent cancer, infectious disease

One of the reasons cancer is so deadly is that it can evade attack from the body's immune system, which allows tumors to flourish and spread. Scientists can try to induce the immune system, known as immunotherapy, to go into attack mode to fight cancer and to build long lasting immune resistance to cancer cells.

9 Dec 2014

Researchers explore how to turn on the activity of paternal gene

Most genes are inherited as two working copies, one from the mother and one from the father. However, in a few instances, a gene is imprinted, which means that one copy is silenced. This is called genomic imprinting. If the active copy is mutated, then disease results, even though the silenced gene copy may be normal.

2 Dec 2014

Isis Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca partner to develop new delivery methods for antisense oligonucleotides

AstraZeneca and Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. today announced a strategic alliance to discover and develop novel delivery methods for antisense oligonucleotides.

14 Nov 2014

New consensus guidelines for toxicity testing of oligonucleotide-based therapeutics

Oligonucleotide-based therapeutics present unique challenges when it comes to testing their potential to cause reproductive and developmental harm. New consensus guidelines for toxicity testing that take into consideration the combined chemical and biological characteristics of these novel biopharmaceuticals are presented in Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. publishers.

31 Oct 2014

Identifying infections rapidly: an interview with Dr. David J. Ecker

Current methods for diagnosing infectious diseases are based on the 150-year-old culture method, where physicians collect a sample of a patient’s tissue, such as blood, mucus or urine, and transfer it onto media bottle to allow the pathogens to grow.

From Abbott Diagnostics 20 Oct 2014

TSRI scientists awarded DARPA grant to build artificial immune system

Scientists from both campuses of The Scripps Research Institute have been awarded a total of $7.9 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense.

25 Sep 2014

Phase IIa clinical trial data of ATL1102 in MS patients published in journal Neurology

Antisense Therapeutics is pleased to report the publication of previously generated Phase IIa clinical trial data on ATL1102 in the medical journal Neurology.

22 Sep 2014

Regulus begins ATHENA study to monitor changes in renal function in Alport syndrome patients

Regulus Therapeutics Inc., a biopharmaceutical company leading the discovery and development of innovative medicines targeting microRNAs, announced today it has initiated its ATHENA natural history of disease study in patients with Alport syndrome, a life-threatening genetic kidney disease with no approved therapy.

19 Sep 2014

MU researchers make new breakthrough in spinal muscular atrophy drug

According to recent studies, approximately one out of every 40 individuals in the United States is a carrier of the gene responsible for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a neurodegenerative disease that causes muscles to weaken over time.

16 Sep 2014

Researchers find method to repair gene mutation causing autoimmune deficiency disease

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have found a method to repair the gene mutation causing agammaglobulinemia, an autoimmune deficiency disease that almost exclusively affects boys and in which the body lacks the ability to produce immunoglobulins (gamma globulin).

14 Aug 2014

Idera collaborates with TMA to advance new potential treatment approach for myositis

Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing nucleic acid therapeutics for patients with cancer and rare diseases, and The Myositis Association (TMA), the only nonprofit organization dedicated to solely serving all patients with inflammatory myopathies, today announced a collaboration to advance a new potential treatment approach for polymyositis and dermatomyositis known as Toll-like receptor (TLR) antagonism.

7 Aug 2014

Splice-switching oligonucleotide drugs alter editing of gene transcript

In splice-switching, an innovative therapeutic approach, targeted oligonucleotide drugs alter the editing of a gene transcript to produce the desired form of a protein.

18 Jul 2014

Study of cancer radiation therapy shows that DNA building blocks are susceptible to fragmentation

A new study relevant for cancer radiation therapy shows that DNA building blocks are susceptible to fragmentation. Scientists now have a better understanding of how short DNA strands decompose in microseconds

16 Jul 2014

High-resolution, high-throughput pre-implantation genetic screening microarray launched by OGT

Oxford Gene Technology (OGT), The Molecular Genetics Company, has announced the launch of a new high-resolution, high-throughput pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS) microarray aimed at improving embryo screening for in vitro fertilisation (IVF). The CytoSure™ Embryo Screen Array offers eight arrays of 60,000 spots for high-resolution genome-wide aneuploidy and copy number detection in pre-implantation embryos.

From Oxford Gene Technology 8 Jul 2014

Celsion acquires all assets of EGEN

Celsion Corporation, an oncology drug development company, today announced the completion of the acquisition by Celsion of substantially all of the assets of EGEN, Inc., a privately-held biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of nucleic acid-based therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and other difficult to treat diseases.

21 Jun 2014

Celsion signs definitive asset purchase agreement to acquire EGEN

Celsion Corporation (Celsion) (NASDAQ: CLSN), an oncology drug development company, and EGEN, Inc. (EGEN), a privately-held biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of nucleic acid-based therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and other difficult to treat diseases, today announced the signing of a definitive asset purchase agreement in which Celsion will acquire substantially all of the assets of EGEN, including its Phase Ib DNA-based immunotherapy product candidate EGEN-001 and its therapeutic platform technologies, TheraPlas™ for delivery of DNA and mRNA, TheraSilence™ for delivery of RNA, and RAST™ for Cell Enabled Expression and Secretion of RNA.

10 Jun 2014

Twist Bioscience raises $26M in Series B financing, receives $5.1M DARPA contract

Twist Bioscience today announced that it raised $26 million in a Series B financing to commercialize the company's semiconductor-based synthetic gene manufacturing process.

27 May 2014

New mouse study indicates that mutant protein in muscle cells is responsible for SBMA

Sometimes known as Kennedy's disease, spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) is a rare inherited neuromuscular disorder characterized by slowly progressive muscle weakness and atrophy.

17 Apr 2014

Blood sample could diagnose many types of solid cancers

A blood sample could one day be enough to diagnose many types of solid cancers, or to monitor the amount of cancer in a patient's body and responses to treatment. Previous versions of the approach, which relies on monitoring levels of tumor DNA circulating in the blood, have required cumbersome and time-consuming steps to customize it to each patient or have not been sufficiently sensitive.

7 Apr 2014