Patent ID: 7855283

Claim:
An antisense oligonucleotide compound comprised of morpholino subunits and phosphorous-containing intersubunit linkages having the following structure (I): wherein: Y 1 ═O; Z═O; Pi and Pj are independently a purine or pyrimidine base-pairing moiety effective to bind, by base-specific hydrogen bonding, to a base in a polynucleotide; X is alkyl, alkoxy, thioalkoxy, amino, alkyl amino, dialkylamino or piperazynyl; and wherein the antisense oligonucleotide compound: (i) comprises at least one phosphorous-containing intersubunit linkage wherein X is piperazynyl; (ii) contains between 12-40 base-pairing moieties; (iii) comprises a targeting sequence of at least 12 contiguous base-pairing moieties complementary to SEQ ID NO:1; and (iv) optionally comprises a hydrophilic polymer for enhancing the solubility of the antisense oligonucleotide compound; and wherein the antisense oligonucleotide compound is capable of binding to vRNA/vcRNA or mRNA strands of an Arenavirus in the Arenaviridae family to form a heteroduplex structure having a Tm of dissociation of at least 45° C.