Patent ID: 7563618

Claim:
A method of inhibiting a telomerase enzyme, comprising: contacting a cancer cell that expresses telomerase with a compound comprising an oligonucleotide conjugated to a nucleobase, having the structure: (A—L—) n —O wherein A is a single nucleobase, n=1 or 2, and L is a flexible linker group, such that A—L does not represent a nucleoside or nucleotide, and L does not include a 5- or 6-membered closed ring sugar group; O is an oligonucleotide consisting of 4 to 15 nucleoside subunits joined by N3′→P5′ phosphoramidate or N3′→P5′ thiophosphoramidate intersubunit linkages and comprising a sequence of 4 or more consecutive nucleosides exactly complementary to the template region of human telomerase RNA; and wherein the compound inhibits telomerase activity.