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- Aaldering, L. J., et al.
(author)
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Development of an Efficient G-Quadruplex-Stabilised Thrombin-Binding Aptamer Containing a Three-Carbon Spacer Molecule
- 2017
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In: ChemBioChem. - : Wiley-VCH Verlag. - 1439-4227 .- 1439-7633. ; 18:8, s. 755-763
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The thrombin-binding aptamer (TBA), which shows anticoagulant properties, is one of the most studied G-quadruplex-forming aptamers. In this study, we investigated the impact of different chemical modifications such as a three-carbon spacer (spacer-C3), unlocked nucleic acid (UNA) and 3′-amino-modified UNA (amino-UNA) on the structural dynamics and stability of TBA. All three modifications were incorporated at three different loop positions (T3, T7, T12) of the TBA G-quadruplex structure to result in a series of TBA variants and their stability was studied by thermal denaturation; folding was studied by circular dichroism spectroscopy and thrombin clotting time. The results showed that spacer-C3 introduction at the T7 loop position (TBA-SP7) significantly improved stability and thrombin clotting time while maintaining a similar binding affinity as TBA to thrombin. Detailed molecular modelling experiments provided novel insights into the experimental observations, further supporting the efficacy of TBA-SP7. The results of this study could provide valuable information for future designs of TBA analogues with superior thrombin inhibition properties.
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2. |
- Bramsen, Jesper B., et al.
(author)
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A large-scale chemical modification screen identifies design rules to generate siRNAs with high activity, high stability and low toxicity
- 2009
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In: Nucleic Acids Research. - : Oxford University Press. - 0305-1048 .- 1362-4962. ; 37:9, s. 2867-2881
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The use of chemically synthesized short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) is currently the method of choice to manipulate gene expression in mammalian cell culture, yet improvements of siRNA design is expectably required for successful application in vivo. Several studies have aimed at improving siRNA performance through the introduction of chemical modifications but a direct comparison of these results is difficult. We have directly compared the effect of 21 types of chemical modifications on siRNA activity and toxicity in a total of 2160 siRNA duplexes. We demonstrate that siRNA activity is primarily enhanced by favouring the incorporation of the intended antisense strand during RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) loading by modulation of siRNA thermodynamic asymmetry and engineering of siRNA 3'-overhangs. Collectively, our results provide unique insights into the tolerance for chemical modifications and provide a simple guide to successful chemical modification of siRNAs with improved activity, stability and low toxicity.
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