Antisense modulation of C-reactive protein expression

1. A compound 15 to 30 nucleobases in length targeted to a nucleic acid molecule encoding C-reactive protein, wherein said compound comprises at least an 8 nucleobase portion complementary to region 1361-1410 of SEQ ID NO: 3, and wherein said compound inhibits the expression of C-reactive protein.

2. The compound of claim 1 , wherein the compound is an oligonucleotide.

3. The compound of claim 2 , wherein the oligonucleotide comprises at least one modified internucleoside linkage.

4. The compound of claim 3 , wherein the at least one modified internucleoside linkage is a phosphorothioate, phosphorodithioate, phosphotriester, aminoalkylphosphotriester, alkyl phosphonates, phosphinate, phosphoramidate, thionophosphoramidate, thionoalkylphosphonate, thionoalkylphosphotriester, selenophosphate, boranophosphate, morpholino, siloxane, sulfide, sulfoxide, sulfone, formacetyl, thioformacetyl, methylene formacetyl, riboacetyl, alkene-containing backbone, sulfamate, methyleneimino, methylenehydrazino, sulfonate, sulfonamide, or amide.

5. The compound of claim 4 , wherein the at least one modified internucleoside linkage is a phosphorothioate linkage.

6. The compound of claim 2 , wherein all of the internucleoside linkages of the oligonucleotide are phosphorothioate linkages.

7. The compound of claim 2 , wherein the oligonucleotide comprises at least one 2′ modified sugar moiety.

8. The compound of claim 7 , wherein the at least one 2′ modified sugar moiety is OH, halogen, O-alkyl, S-alkyl, N-alkyl, O-alkenyl, S-alkenyl, N-alkenyl, O-alkynyl, S-alkynyl, N-alkynyl, O-alkyl-O-alkyl, alkaryl, aralkyl, O-alkaryl or O-aralkyl, SH, SCH 3 , OCN, CN, CF 3 , OCF 3 , SOCH 3 , SO 2 CH 3 , ONO 2 , NO 2 , N 3 , NH 2 , heterocycloalkyl, heterocycloalkaryl, aminoalkylamino, polyalkylamino, substituted silyl, alkoxyalkoxy, dimethylaminooxyethoxy, allyl, or O-allyl, wherein the alkyl, alkenyl and alkynyl can be substituted or unsubstituted C 1 to C 10 alkyl or C 2 to C 10 alkenyl and alkynyl.

9. The compound of claim 8 , wherein the at least one 2′ modified sugar moiety is 2′-O-(2-methoxyethyl) (2′-MOE) sugar moiety.

10. The compound of claim 2 , wherein the oligonucleotide comprises at least one modified nucleobase.

11. The compound of claim 10 , wherein the at least one modified nucleobase is 5-methylcytosine, 5-hydroxymethyl cytosine, xanthine, hypoxanthine, 2-aminoadenine, 6-alkyladenine, 6-alkylguanine, 2-alkyladenine, 2-alkylguanine, 2-thiouracil, 2-thiothymine, 2-thiocytosine, 5-halouracil, 5-halocytosine, 5-alkynyluracil, 5-alkynylcytosine, 6-azouracil, 6-azo cytosine, 6-azo thymine, 5-uracil, 4-thiouracil, 8-haloadenine, 8-aminoadenine, 8-thioladenine, 8-thioalkyladenine, 8-hydroxyladenine, 8-haloguanine, 8-aminoguanine, 8-thiolguanine, 8-thioalkylguanine, 8-hydroxylguanine, 5-halo uracil, 5-halo cytosine, 7-methylguanine, 7-methyladenine, 2-F-adenine, 2-amino-adenine, 8-azaguanine, 8-azaadenine, 7-deazaguanine, 7-deazaadenine, 3-deazaguanine, 3-deazaadenine, phenoxazine cytidine, phenothiazine cytidine, G-clamp, carbazole cytidine, pyridoindole cytidine, 7-deaza adenine, 7-deaza guanosine, 2-aminopyridine, 2-pyridone, 2-aminopropyladenine, 5-propynyluracil, or 5-propynylcytosine.

12. The compound of claim 11 , wherein the at least one modified nucleobase is a 5-methylcytosine.

13. The compound of claim 2 , wherein the oligonucleotide is a chimeric oligonucleotide.

14. The compound of claim 13 , wherein the chimeric oligonucleotide is a gapmer.

15. The compound of claim 14 , wherein the gapmer comprises: a 5′ wing segment; a 3′ wing segment; and a gap segment positioned between said 5′ wing segment and said 3′ wing segment.

16. The compound claim 15 , wherein each of said 5′ wing segment and 3′ wing segment comprise at least one 2′-O-(2-methoxyethyl) sugar moiety.

17. The compound of claim 16 , wherein the 5′ wing segment comprises five nucleobases and a phosphorothioate or phosphodiester internucleoside linkage, the 3′ wing segment comprises five nucleobases and a phosphorothioate or phosphodiester internucleoside linkage, and the gap segment comprises ten nucleobases.

18. The compound of claim 1 , wherein the compound is 20 nucleobases in length.

19. The compound of claim 1 , wherein the compound is a salt.

20. The compound of claim 19 , wherein the salt is a sodium, potassium, ammonium, magnesium, or calcium salt.

21. The compound of claim 1 , wherein the compound is a duplexed nucleic acid molecule specifically hybridizable with an equal number of nucleobases selected from nucleotides 1361 to 1410 of SEQ ID NO:3.

22. The compound of claim 1 , wherein the compound is an oligonucleotide 20 nucleobases in length, wherein the oligonucleotide comprises a gap segment of ten 2′-deoxynucleosides positioned between 5′ and 3′ wing segments of five 2′-O-(2-methoxyethyl)-nucleotides, wherein each internucleoside linkage is a phosphorothioate internucleoside linkage, and wherein each cytosine is a 5-methylcytosine.

23. A composition comprising the compound of claim 1 and a pharmaceutically acceptable diluent or carrier.

24. A compound comprising an oligonucleotide 20 nucleobases in length targeted to nucleotides 1361 to 1410 of a nucleic acid molecule encoding C-reactive protein (SEQ ID NO:3), wherein the oligonucleotide comprises

a) a gap segment of ten linked deoxynucleosides,

b) a 5′ wing segment consisting of five linked nucleosides

c) a 3′ wing segment consisting of five linked nucleosides

wherein the gap segment is positioned between the 5′ and 3′ wing segments, wherein each nucleoside of each wing segment comprises a 2′-O-(2-methoxyethyl) sugar, wherein each internucleoside linkage is a phosphorothioate internucleoside linkage, and wherein each cytosine is a 5-methylcytosine.

25. The compound of claim 1 , wherein the compound is 100% complementary to SEQ ID NO:3.