Antisense Oligonucleotides as a Candidate for SARS-CoV-2 Antiviral Drug

In the past few decades, small molecule drugs and protein macromolecular drugs have developed rapidly. But for some certain problems, small molecule drugs, and protein drugs may have insurmountable limitations. In this case, oligonucleotide drugs are an option. Creative Biolabs is a biotechnology company known for its innovations. We have extensive experience in nucleic acid therapy and can apply it to the development of COVID-19 drugs.

Therapeutic Antisense Oligonucleotides

Since proteins are derived from specific mRNAs, regulating mRNA or pre-mRNA levels can be used to broaden therapeutic targets. Traditional small-molecule or protein-based strategies (adapter proteins, transcription factors, etc.) that are difficult to target can be treated by adjusting mRNA levels. In addition, several unique regulatory effects of non-coding RNA have been discovered, and RNA has been shown to directly promote pathology. Currently, many different therapeutic strategies are used to regulate RNA function in cells. This includes small molecules targeting RNA, gene therapy, genome editing, delivery of exogenously expressed mRNAs, and antisense oligonucleotides (ASO). ASOs are defined as chemically synthesized oligonucleotides, usually 12-30 nucleotides in length, with the purpose of binding to RNA through Watson-crick base pairing rules. The length of ASOs partially improves their specificity, because oligonucleotides 16 to 20 nucleotides long can uniquely bind to a target RNA. After binding to the targeted RNA, the oligonucleotide can regulate RNA function by promoting RNA breakage and degradation, as well as occupancy mechanisms.

Antisense Oligonucleotides for COVID-19

Most drugs for COVID-19 are based on inhibiting the interaction of SARS-CoV-2 with the host cell membrane to prevent the virus from entering the cell, or based on disrupting the virus component, but because the virus has the ability to mutate to escape the body's immune system monitoring, these strategies based on SARS-CoV-2 themselves often fail. Creative Biolabs uses ASO technology to target specific host factors necessary for SARS-CoV-2 infection. By suppressing the expression of the host factors essential to the infection of these viruses, the immune escape of the virus due to mutation can be avoided. This strategy has been proven effective when ASO is used to treat Ebola virus infection. Moreover, different viruses often rely on common host factors. Therefore, the treatment of host factors related to existing or emerging viruses may also become a treatment method for future challenges.

What Can Creative Biolabs Help?

• Discover novel antisense-based therapies
• In vitro and in vivo efficacy evaluation
• Safety assessment

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