Avontec: Trick or treat
Many diseases are caused by sets of genes being activated at the wrong time. Avontec GmbH thinks it can influence the activity of several genes simultaneously by inhibiting proteins that control the expression of multiple target genes.
The company's decoy oligodeoxy-nucleotide (decoy-ODN) technology uses short double-stranded DNA fragments. "These DNA decoys, which are about 10-25 base pairs long, imitate the DNA binding site of transcription factors involved in pathological gene expression and thus effectively neutralize them after entering the cell," said CSO Heiko von der Leyen. "ODN decoys are taken up by the target cells without any auxiliary means and action starts immediately. In animals and isolated tissue we don't see any reaction of the cells, such as enhanced transcription, to compensate for the shut-down."...