Phosphorothioate-modified antisense oligonucleotides (PS-ASOs) interact with a host of plasma, cell-surface and intracellular proteins which govern their therapeutic properties. Given the importance of PS backbone for interaction with proteins, we systematically replaced anionic PS-linkages in toxic ASOs with charge-neutral alkylphosphonate linkages. Site-specific incorporation of alkyl phosphonates altered the RNaseH1 cleavage patterns but overall rates of cleavage and activity versus the on-target gene in cells and in mice were only minimally affected. However, replacing even one PS-linkage at position 2 or 3 from the 5′-side of the DNA-gap with alkylphosphonates reduced or eliminated toxicity of several hepatotoxic gapmer ASOs. The reduction in toxicity was accompanied by the absence of nucleolar mislocalization of paraspeckle protein P54nrb, ablation of P21 mRNA elevation and caspase activation in cells, and hepatotoxicity in mice. The generality of these observations was further demonstrated for several ASOs versus multiple gene targets. Our results add to the types of structural modifications that can be used in the gap-region to enhance ASO safety and provide insights into understanding the biochemistry of PS ASO protein interactions.
硫代磷酸修饰的反义寡核苷酸(PS-ASO)与多种血浆、细胞表面和细胞内蛋白质相互作用,这些蛋白质调控其治疗特性。鉴于PS骨架对与蛋白质相互作用的重要性,我们系统性地将毒性ASO中的阴离子PS连接替换为电中性烷基
膦酸连接。定点引入烷基
膦酸改变了RNaseH1的切割模式,但整体切割速率和针对细胞及小鼠目标
基因的活性仅受到轻微影响。然而,即使在DNA间隙的5′侧的第2或第3位替换一个PS连接为烷基
膦酸,也能降低或消除几种具有肝毒性的gapmer ASO的毒性。毒性的降低伴随着核仁侧斑蛋白P54nrb的错误定位缺失、细胞中P21 mRNA
水平升高和caspase活化的消除,以及小鼠的肝毒性减少。这些观察结果的普遍性在针对多个
基因靶点的几种ASO中得到了进一步证明。我们的结果增加了可用于间隙区域以提高ASO安全性的结构修饰类型,并为理解PS ASO蛋白相互作用的
生物化学提供了见解。