Differentiation of osteoclasts is defined by the transcription factors expressed in response to bone microenvironments. In this work, we examined the effects of an expressional blockage of Egr-1 and/or WT1 on the differentiation of osteoclasts using specific antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN). In a culture system forming preosteoclast-like cells (POC) from rat bone marrow cells depleted of m...

Transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta1 is an important fibrogenic factor that is involved in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy. We evaluated the effect of circular antisense TGF-beta1 oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) on the TGF-beta1 expression in the rat mesangial cell culture and in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Circular antisense TGF-beta1 ODNs were found to be stable in rat...

The proliferation of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) cells and the transformation of normal hematopoietic cells by BCR-ABL appear to require the expression of a functional MYC protein, suggesting an approach to treatment of Philadelphia leukemias based on simultaneous targeting of BCR-ABL and c-MYC. To test this hypothesis, CML-blast crisis (CML-BC) primary cells were treated in vitro with b...

BACKGROUND: Antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) have been proposed as a new therapy for patients with cancer, including malignant brain tumors. Antisense ODNs are taken up by tumor cells and selectively block gene expression. Use of ODNs for brain tumors is attractive due to their theoretical specificity, relative ease of production and, to date, paucity of reported adverse effects. This art...

A surprise that has emerged from transcriptomics is the prevalence of genomic antisense transcription, which occurs counter to gene orientation. While frequent, the roles of antisense transcription in regulation are poorly understood. We built a synthetic system in Escherichia coli to study how antisense transcription can change the expression of a gene and tune the response characteristics of ...

The aim of the present study was to identify functional antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) against the rat glutathione S-transferase Mu (GSTM) isoforms, GSTM1 and GSTM2. These antisense ODNs would enable the study of the physiological consequences of GSTM deficiency. Because it has been suggested that the effectiveness of antisense ODNs is dependent on the secondary mRNA structures of their...

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) nuclear antigen 1 (EBNA-1) is a latent viral protein that is expressed in all EBV-immortalized lymphocytes and plays an essential role in immortalization y EBV. EBNA-1 protein is required for replication and maintenance of the episomal viral genome in latently infected, immortalized cells. Given the essential function of EBNA-1 in immortalization, we have examined t...

Stable unannotated transcripts (SUTs), some of which overlap protein-coding genes in antisense direction, are a class of non-coding RNAs. While case studies have reported important regulatory roles for several of such RNAs, their general impact on protein abundance regulation of the overlapping gene is not known. To test this, we employed seamless gene manipulation to repress antisense SUTs of ...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether antisense oligonucleotides targeting c-fos mRNA have the ability to inhibit the growth of interleukin 1 (IL1) stimulated fibroblast-like cells from the synovium in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS Fibroblast-like cells established from RA synovium were stimulated by IL1 with antisense or sense oligonucleotides complementary to c-fos mRNA, and the proliferation...

Oligonucleotides radiolabeled with isotopes emitting γ-rays (for SPECT imaging) or positrons (for PET imaging) can be useful for targeting messenger RNA (mRNA) thereby serving as non-invasive imaging tools for detection of gene expression in vivo (antisense imaging). Radiolabeled oligonucleotides may also be used for monitoring their in vivo fate, thereby helping us better understand the barrie...