Patent ID: 7160869
Filing Date: 2007-01-09
Classification: A61K,B82Y,C07H,C12Q,G11C,H01L

Abstract:
1. A method of eliciting an immune response to an antigen comprising administering to the animal a metal-containing nucleic acid duplex encoding the antigen, wherein the metal-containing nucleic acid duplex comprises a first strand of nucleic acid and a second strand of nucleic acid, the first and the second nucleic acid strands each comprising a plurality of nitrogen-containing aromatic bases covalently linked by a backbone, the nitrogen-containing aromatic bases of the first nucleic acid strand being joined by hydrogen bonding to the nitrogen-containing aromatic bases of the second nucleic acid strand, the nitrogen-containing aromatic bases on the first and the second nucleic acid strands forming hydrogen-bonded base pairs in stacked arrangement along the length of the metal-containing nucleic acid duplex, at least some of the hydrogen-bonded base pairs comprising an interchelated divalent metal cation coordinated to a nitrogen atom in one of the aromatic nitrogen-containing aromatic bases, wherein the immune response elicited in the animal to the antigen encoded by the metal-containing nucleic acid is an antibody response.