Antisense antimicrobial therapeutics.

Antisense antimicrobial therapeutics.
Curr Opin Microbiol. 2016 Jun 29;33:47-55
Authors: Sully EK, Geller BL
Abstract
Antisense antimicrobial therapeutics are synthetic oligomers that silence expression of specific genes. This specificity confers an advantage over broad-spectrum antibiotics by avoiding unintended effects on commensal bacteria. The sequence-specificity and short length of antisense antimicrobials also pose little risk to human gene expression. Because antisense antimicrobials are a platform technology, they can be rapidly designed and synthesized to target almost any microbe. This reduces drug discovery time, and provides flexibility and a rational approach to drug development. Recent work has shown that antisense technology has the potential to address the antibiotic-resistance crisis, since resistance mechanisms for standard antibiotics apparently have no effect on antisense antimicrobials. Here, we describe current reports of antisense antimicrobials targeted against viruses, parasites, and bacteria.
PMID: 27375107 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology - June 28, 2016 Category: Microbiology Authors: Sully EK, Geller BL Tags: Curr Opin Microbiol Source Type: research