Background Gastric cancer is the fourth most common cancer worldwide. Despite advances in diagnosis of gastric cancer, the prognosis at advanced stage of disease with the current chemotherapeutic treatment strategies remains poor. Hence, new agents and molecular targets for gastric cancer therapy are desperately needed. Sphingosine kinase 1 represents a promising novel target for anti-cancer th...

The aim of the study was to evaluate changes in expression of PBP5 gene associated with immunosuppression. A linear locked nucleic acid (LNA) probe was used to measure resistance gene expression by the Flow-FISH method. Expression of the PBP5 gene measured by Flow-FISH was higher in enterococcal strains isolated from renal transplantation (RTx) recipients than in commensal strains. Additionally...

Here we describe a new array system (miRCURYTM LNA Array) for global microRNA (miRNA) profiling of biological samples. The miRCURY LNA Array system uses locked nucleic acid (LNATM), a high-affinity nucleotide analog, to enhance the array capture probes, giving them high sensitivity and excellent selectivity for miRNA targets. We have simultaneously developed a straightforward method for labelin...

In this study, we investigated the efficacy of an LNA (locked nucleic acid)-modified DNA aptamer named RNV66 targeting VEGF against various breast cancer cell lines. Our results demonstrate that RNV66 efficiently inhibits breast cancer cell proliferation both in vitro and in vivo. Introduction of LNA nucleotides were crucial for higher efficacy. Furthermore, the binding interaction of RNV66 wit...

An assay for the fluorescent detection of short oligonucleotide probe hybridization in miniaturized high-density array platforms is presented. It combines hybridization in solution with real-time fluorescent detection, which involves measurement of fluorescence increase by means of an induced fluorescence resonance energy transfer. The feasibility of this approach using DNA or RNA as a target, ...

A versatile approach to modify metal–organic framework nanoparticles (NMOFs) with nucleic acid tethers, using the “click chemistry” method is introduced. The nucleic acid-functionalized NMOFs are used to prepare stimuli-responsive carriers of loads (fluorescence probes or anti-cancer drugs). Two different stimuli-responsive nucleic acid-based NMOFs are presented. One system involves the prepara...

BACKGROUND MicroRNAs are important regulators of gene expression at the post-transcriptional level and play an important role in many biological processes. Due to the important biological role it is of great interest to quantitatively determine their expression level in different biological settings. RESULTS We describe a PCR method for quantification of microRNAs based on a single reverse tr...

Anti-microRNA oligonucleotides (AMOs) are steric blocking antisense reagents that inhibit microRNA (miRNA) function by hybridizing and repressing the activity of a mature miRNA. First generation AMOs employed 2'-O-Methyl RNA nucleotides (2'OMe) with phosphorothioate (PS) internucleotide linkages positioned at both ends to block exonuclease attack. Second generation AMOs improved potency through...

Two G-quadruplex forming sequences, 5'-TGGGAG and the 17-mer sequence T30177, which exhibit anti-HIV-1 activity on cell lines, were modified using either locked nucleic acids (LNA) or via insertions of (R)-1-O-(pyren-1-ylmethyl)glycerol (intercalating nucleic acid, INA) or (R)-1-O-[4-(1-pyrenylethynyl)phenylmethyl]glycerol (twisted intercalating nucleic acid, TINA). Incorporation of LNA or INA/...

Development of potent new anti-Shigella agents for rapid and specific detection and treatment is of great importance. Aptamers, nucleic acid oligomers capable of specific binding to a wide range of non-nucleic acid targets, may be of value for this purpose. In the present study, we used a Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential enrichment (SELEX) process to select DNA aptamers that b...