For Immediate Release
New Method Stabilizes siRNAs Without Affecting Gene Silencing Activity
Contact: Kathryn Ryan
914-740-2250
kryan@liebertpub.com
New Rochelle, NY, January 9, 2018—Researchers have reported the ability to modify the structure of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) to improve their stability and therapeutic potential without negatively affecting their potency and ability to silence targeted genes. The oligonucleotide modifications used and the experimental measures of thermal stability, helical structure, and gene expression are described in an article published in Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. publishers. The article is available free on the Nucleic Acid Therapeutics website until February 9, 2018.
The article entitled “Structural Studies and Gene Silencing Activity of siRNAs Containing Cationic Phosphoramidate Linkages” is coauthored by Danielle Vlaho, Johans Fakhoury, and Masad Damha, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. They provide a detailed description of the phosphoramidate modifications introduced in either siRNA passenger or guide strands to overcome stability issues and they detail any negative effects on the biological properties of the modified siRNAs.
"The ability to enhance siRNA stability and improve uptake by introducing internucleotide linkage phosphoramidate modifications into oligonucleotides is an important advance to achieve stability without sacrificing potency," says Executive Editor Graham C. Parker, PhD, The Carman and Ann Adams Department of Pediatrics, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Children's Hospital of Michigan, Detroit, MI.
About the Journal
Nucleic Acid Therapeutics is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published bimonthly in print and online that focuses on cutting-edge basic research, therapeutic applications, and drug development using nucleic acids or related compounds to alter gene expression. The Journal is under the editorial leadership of Co-Editors-in-Chief Bruce A. Sullenger, PhD, Duke Translational Research Institute, Duke University Medical Center and Annemieke Aartsma-Rus, PhD, Leiden University Medical Center, and Executive Editor Graham C. Parker, PhD. Nucleic Acid Therapeutics is the official journal of the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Nucleic Acid Therapeutics website.
About the Society
The Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society is an open, non-profit forum to foster academia- and industry-based research and development of oligonucleotide therapeutics. The society brings together the expertise from different angles of oligonucleotide research to create synergies and to bring the field of oligonucleotides to its full therapeutic potential.
About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Human Gene Therapy, ASSAY and Drug Development Technologies, Applied In Vitro Toxicology, and DNA and Cell Biology. Its biotechnology trade magazine, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry’s most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm’s 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.