Lipid formulated compositions and methods for inhibiting expression of a gene from the ebola virus

1. A pharmaceutical composition for inhibiting the expression of a gene from an Ebola virus in an organism, comprising a double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) and a lipid formulation comprising XTC/DSPC/Cholesterol/PEG-C14 in a ratio of 50%/10%/38.5%/1.5%; and

wherein said dsRNA comprises at least two sequences that are complementary to each other and wherein a sense strand comprises a first sequence and an antisense strand comprises a second sequence comprising a region of complementarity which is substantially complementarity to at least a part of a mRNA encoding Ebola, and wherein said region of complementarity is less than 30 nucleotides in length.

2. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 1 , wherein said first sequence of said dsRNA consists of the sequence of SEQ ID NO:1027, and said second sequence consists of the sequence of SEQ ID NO:1028.

3. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 1 , wherein said first sequence is selected from the group consisting of the sense sequences of Table 2 and said second sequence is selected from the group consisting of the antisense sequences of Table 2.

4. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 1 , wherein said dsRNA comprises at least one modified nucleotide.

5. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 3 , wherein said dsRNA comprises at least one modified nucleotide.

6. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 4 , wherein said modified nucleotide is chosen from the group of: a 2′-O-methyl modified nucleotide, a nucleotide comprising a 5′-phosphorthioate group, and a terminal nucleotide linked to a cholesteryl derivative or dodecanoic acid bisdecylamide group.

7. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 4 , wherein said modified nucleotide is chosen from the group of: a 2′-deoxy-2′-fluoro modified nucleotide, a 2′-deoxy-modified nucleotide, a locked nucleotide, an abasic nucleotide, 2′-amino-modified nucleotide, 2′-alkyl-modified nucleotide, morpholino nucleotide, a phosphoramidate, and a non-natural base comprising nucleotide.

8. A method for inhibiting the expression of a gene from an Ebola virus in a cell, the method comprising:

(a) introducing into the cell the pharmaceutical composition of claim 1 ; and

(b) maintaining the cell produced in step (a) for a time sufficient to obtain degradation of the mRNA transcript of a gene from the Ebola virus, thereby inhibiting expression of a gene from the Ebola virus in the cell.

9. A method of treating, preventing or managing pathological processes mediated by Ebola expression comprising administering to a subject in need of such treatment, prevention or management a therapeutically of prophylactically effective amount of the pharmaceutical composition of claim 1 .

10. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 1 , wherein the dsRNA targets the VP35 of Ebola.

11. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 1 , wherein said dsRNA, upon contact with a cell infected with Ebola virus, inhibits expression of a gene from the virus by at least 40% compared to a control.

12. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 1 , wherein said region of complementarity is 15-30 nucleotides in length.

13. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 1 , wherein said region of complementarity is 19-24 nucleotides in length.

14. A method of increasing life-span of, decreasing viral titre in, or sustaining platelet count in a subject infected with an Ebola virus, comprising administering to the subject the pharmaceutical composition of claim 1 in an amount sufficient to increase the life-span of, decreasing viral titre in, or sustaining platelet count in the subject.

15. A pharmaceutical composition for inhibiting the expression of a gene from an Ebola virus in an organism, comprising a double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) and a lipid formulation comprising a compound of formula X, selected from the group consisting of:

and wherein said dsRNA comprises at least two sequences that are complementary to each other and wherein a sense strand comprises a first sequence and an antisense strand comprises a second sequence comprising a region of complementarity which is substantially complementary to at least a part of a mRNA encoding Ebola virus, and wherein said region of complementarity if less than 30 nucleotides in length.

16. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 15 , wherein said first sequence of said dsRNA consists of the sequence of SEQ ID NO:1027, and said second sequence consists of the sequence of SEQ ID NO:1028.