BioCentury
ARTICLE | Tools & Techniques

PCAOs: Uncommon Antisense

February 28, 2008 8:00 AM UTC

Transcription factors and other molecules involved in interactions inside cell nuclei are important targets for treating many diseases, but a number of characteristics have made them difficult drug targets. A research team from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has proposed a solution to the problem: peptide-conjugated oligonucleotides.

Targets located inside cell nuclei are not druggable with conventional antibodies, and their large binding sites-typical for protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions-make them difficult to target with small molecules. Conventional inhibitors of intranuclear interactions-peptidomimetics or oligonucleotides-often lack specificity for a given cell type and may metabolize relatively quickly in vivo, reducing their effectiveness as drugs...