Patent ID: 9365849
Filing Date: 2016-06-14
CPC Classification: A61P,C12N

Claim Text:
1. A method for reducing expression of a target gene in a mammalian cell comprising: contacting a cell in vitro with an isolated double stranded nucleic acid in an amount sufficient to reduce expression of a target gene in said cell, wherein said double stranded nucleic acid comprises a first oligonucleotide strand comprising ribonucleotides and having a 5′ terminus and a 3′ terminus and a second oligonucleotide strand comprising ribonucleotides and having a 5′ terminus and a 3′ terminus and wherein said double stranded nucleic acid comprises blunt ends, wherein each of said first and said second strands consists of the same number of nucleotide residues and is 25-30 nucleotides, wherein the ultimate and penultimate residues of said 3′ terminus of said first strand and the ultimate and penultimate residues of said 5′ terminus of said second strand form one or two mismatched base pairs, and wherein said second oligonucleotide strand is sufficiently complementary to a target mRNA along at least 19 nucleotides of said second oligonucleotide strand length to reduce target gene expression when said double stranded nucleic acid is introduced into a mammalian cell, thereby reducing expression of the target gene in said mammalian cell.