Antisense therapy is a theoretical form of treatment for genetic disorders or infections. When the genetic sequence of a particular gene is known to be causative of a particular disease, it is possible to synthesize a strand of nucleic acid (DNA, RNA or a chemical analogue) that will bind to the messenger RNA produced by that gene, effectively turning that gene "off".

This synthesized nucleic acid is termed an "anti-sense" oligo because its base sequence is complementary to the gene's messenger RNA (mRNA), which is called the "sense" sequence (so that a sense segment of mRNA " 5'-AAGGUC-3' " would be blocked by the anti-sense mRNA segment " 3'-UUCCAG-5' ").

Most potential therapies have not yet produced significant clinical results, though one antisense drug, Formivirsen (marketed as Vitravene), has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

See also

• antisense mRNA
• Morpholino
• Peptide Nuleic Acid
• Locked Nucleic Acid

External links

• Vitravene Injection Information, from RXlist.com

Applied genetics | Biotechnology