Patent ID: 6972171

Claim:
A method for the selection and preparation of an effective antisense oligonucleotide for a nucleic acid comprising the steps of designing an antisense oligonucleotide corresponding to a target nucleic acid sequence, such that a) the antisense oligonucleotide comprises at least 8 nucleic acid residues, b) the antisense oligonucleotide comprises a maximum of twelve elements, each the twelve elements being a nucleotide capable of forming three hydrogen bonds to a cytosine base, c) the antisense oligonucleotide does not contain four or more consecutive elements, d) the antisense oligonucleotide does not contain two or more series of three consecutive elements, and e) the ratio of residues forming two hydrogen bonds each with the target nucleic acid sequence with respect to residues forming three hydrogen bonds each with the target nucleic acid sequence is 3 ⁢ H ⁢ - ⁢ bond ⁢ - ⁢ R 3 ⁢ H ⁢ - ⁢ bond ⁢ - ⁢ R + 2 ⁢ H ⁢ - ⁢ bond ⁢ - ⁢ R ≥ 0.29 wherein 3H-bond-R=residues forming three hydrogen bonds per residue and 2H-bond-R=residues forming two hydrogen bonds per residue, generating the designed antisense oligonucleotide, and synthesizing the generated antisense oligonucleotide.