Antibacterial antisense oligonucleotide and method

1. A method for enhancing the antibacterial activity of an uncharged antisense oligonucleotide composed of morpholino subunits linked by phosphorus-containing intersubunit linkages joining a morpholino nitrogen of one subunit to a 5′ exocyclic carbon of an adjacent subunit, where the oligonucleotide contains between 10-20 bases and a targeting sequence of at least 10 contiguous bases complementary to a bacterial RNA target, and where binding of the oligonucleotide to the RNA target region is effective to inhibit growth of a infectious bacterium in a mammalian host, comprising both of steps (a) and (b), or step (b) alone:

(a) conjugating to the oligonucleotide, a carrier peptide (i) containing 8-14 amino acids composed of the subsequences selected from the group represented by XXY, XY, XZZ, XZ, XYX, YXX, YX, ZXZ, ZZX, and ZX, where (a) each X subunit independently represents arginine or an arginine analog, said analog being a cationic α-amino acid comprising a side chain of the structure R 1 N═C(NH 2 )R 2 , where R 1 is H or R; R 2 is R, NH 2 , NHR, or NR 2 , where R is lower alkyl or lower alkenyl and may further include oxygen or nitrogen; R 1 and R 2 may together form a ring; and the side chain is linked to said amino acid via R 1 or R 2 ; (b) each Y subunit independently represents a neutral linear amino acid —C(O)—(CHR)m-NH—, where (i) m is 1 to 7 and each R is independently H or methyl, and (c) Z is an α-amino acid having a neutral side chain selected from a substituted or unsubstituted aralkyl, and (ii) coupled to the oligonucleotide at the peptide's C terminus, and

(b) modifying the oligonucleotide to contain at least one and up to 50% intersubunit linkages comprising an optionally substituted piperazino group.

2. The method of claim 1 , comprising both steps (a) and (b), wherein the carrier peptide is represented by the sequence (RY′R) p or (RY′) n , where R is arginine and Y′ is a linear alkanoic acid having 2-7 carbon atoms in its backbone chain, and p is 2 to 5 and n is 2 to 8.

3. The method of claim 1 , comprising both steps (a) and (b), wherein the carrier peptide is linked at its C-terminus to the 5′ end of the oligonucleotide through a one- or two-amino acid linker.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the linker is AhxβAla, where Ahx is 6-aminohexanoic acid and βAla is β-alanine.

5. The method of claim 1 , comprising both steps (a) and (b), wherein the peptide is represented by (RAhxR) 4 , where Ahx is 6-amino hexanoic acid.

6. The method of claim 1 , comprising both steps (a) and (b), wherein the peptide is represented by (RAhx) 6 , where Ahx is 6-amino hexanoic acid.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said oligonucleotide has approximately equal-length 5′, 3′ and center regions, and the percentage of linkages comprising an optionally substituted piperazino group in said center region of the modified oligonucleotide is greater than about 70%.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (b) of the method is effective to enhance the anti-bacterial activity of said uncharged oligonucleotide, as measured by inhibition in bacterial growth in vitro over an eight-hour period, by a factor of at least 10 relative to the measured inhibition of the uncharged oligonucleotide in the absence of the carrier peptide.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein step (a) and step (b) of the method are effective to enhance the anti-bacterial activity of said uncharged oligonucleotide, as measured by inhibition in bacterial growth in vitro over an eight-hour period, by a factor of at least 10 2 relative to the measured inhibition of the uncharged oligonucleotide in the absence of the carrier peptide.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the morpholino subunits in the modified oligonucleotide are joined by phosphorodiamidate linkages, in accordance with the structure:

where

Z is S or O,

X=NR 1 R 2 or OR 6 ,

Y=O or NR 7 ,

and intersubunit linkage is, at each occurrence, independently:

(a) linkage (a), where each of R 1 , R 2 , R 6 and R 7 is independently hydrogen or lower alkyl; or

(b1) linkage (b1), where X=NR 1 R 2 and Y=O, and NR 1 R 2 is a piperazino group, such that R 1 R 2 =—CHRCHRN(R 3 )(R 4 )CHRCHR—, wherein:

each R is, at each occurrence, independently H or CH 3 ,

R 4 is H, CH 3 or an electron pair, and

R 3 is H, lower alkyl, C(═NH)NH 2 , Z-L-NHC(═NH)NH 2 , or [C(O)CHR′NH] m H, where Z is carbonyl (C(O)) or a direct bond, L is an optional linker up to 18 atoms in length comprising alkyl, alkoxy, or alkylamino groups, or combinations thereof, R′ is a side chain of a naturally occurring amino acid or a one- or two-carbon homolog thereof, and m is 1 to 6;

and at least one linkage is linkage (b1).

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein each of R 1 and R 2 , in linkages of type (a), is methyl.

12. The method of claim 10 , where, in linkages of type (b1), each R is H, R 4 is H, CH 3 , or an electron pair, and R 3 is H, CH 3 , C(═NH)NH 2 , or C(O)-L-NHC(═NH)NH 2 .

13. The method of claim 10 where, in linkages of type (b1), each R is H, R 4 is an electron pair, and R 3 is C(═NH)NH 2 or C(O)-L-NHC(═NH)NH 2 .

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein R 3 is C(O)-L-NHC(═NH)NH 2 , and L is a hydrocarbon having the structure —(CH 2 ) n —, where n is 1 to 12.

15. The method of claim 10 , where, in linkages of type (b1), each R is H, and each of R 3 and R 4 is independently H or CH 3 .

16. The method of claim 1 , for treating a gram-negative bacterial infection, wherein the targeting sequence is complementary to a target sequence containing or within 20 bases, in a downstream direction, of the translational start codon of a bacterial mRNA that encodes acyl carrier protein (acpP).

17. The method of claim 1 , for treating a gram-negative bacterial infection, wherein the targeting sequence is complementary to a target sequence containing or within 20 bases, in a downstream direction, of the translational start codon of a bacterial mRNA that encodes gyrase A subunit (gyrA).