Abstract: The invention concerns a compounds and methods for treating infection with Respiratory Syncytial Virus. The compounds comprise an antisense portion, which is complementary to a normally single stranded portion of the RSV antigenomic strand (the mRNA strand), a linker and a oligonucleotide activator of RNase L, a ubiquitous non-specific RNase. The method comprised forming a complex of an activated RNase L and the antisense molecule. The application teaches methods of determining which portions of the RSV antigenomic strand are normally single-stranded. The application teaches that an antisense oligonucleotide having the sequence of residues 8281-8299 of the RSV genome is particularly useful to practice the invention and provides in vitro results superior to those obtainable with the conventional drug of choice, ribavirin.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
February 14, 1997
Date of Patent:
December 7, 1999
Assignee:
The Cleveland Clinic Fouindation and Government
Inventors:
Paul F. Torrence, Robert Hugh Silverman, Nick Mario Cirino, Guiying Li, Wei Xiao