Peptide nucleic acid antisense applications

Nielsen P.E., Egholm M., Berg R. H., Buchardt O. Peptide nucleic acids (PNA) oligonucleotide analogs with a polyamide backbone. In Antisense Research and Applications. Crooke S.T., Le-BLBu B. (Eds). CRC Press, Boca Raton,... 

Peptide nucleic acid (PNA) is another analogue of RNA and DNA that has been considered as a potential ancestor of present day nucleic acids. In this molecule the natural sugar-phosphate backbone has been replaced by peptide-like linkages [218]. In recent years, novel syntheses of PNA have been reported mainly focused on their application for antisense and antigene therapies [219]. The physical-chemical properties of PNA make it both... 

Peptide nucleic acid (PNA) has received considerable attention for several years as a candidate for antisense exploitation. Several publications have addressed the physical and biological properties, applications and characterisation of PNA and modified PNAs. One problem associated with PNA is its poor solubility. There has therefore been interest in the synthesis of mixed PNA-DNA chimeras " and the introduction of charge into the PNA monomer itself. Phosphonate PNA 157a has been prepared using the aminomethylpho-sphonate 157b. Proline derived PNA monomers 158 have been described. ... 

Peptide nucleic acid (PNA) is a powerful new biomolecular tool with a wide range of important applications. PNA mimics the behavior of DNA and binds complementary nucleic acid strands and RNA sequences with high affinity and selectivity. The unique chemical, physical, and biological properties of PNA are exploited to produce powerful biomolecular tools, antisense and antigene agents, molecular probes, and biosensors [50-53]. 

The novel nucleic acid structure, peptide nucleic acids (PNA) (7), was first introduced in 1991 by Nielsen and co-workers. PNA is based on a neutral peptide backbone of aminoethylglycine to which the nucleobases are attached. PNA has since found many applications, though primarily it has been used in an antisense strategy where it has proven to be particularly effective. 

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