Compositions and methods for increasing erythropoietin (EPO) production

1. A composition comprising

(a) at least one double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) for inhibiting expression of EGLN1, wherein said dsRNA comprises a sense strand and an antisense strand, wherein the sense strand comprises at least 15 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 26 and differing by no more than 3 nucleotides from the nucleotide sequence of (SEQ ID NO: 26) and the antisense strand comprises at least 15 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 27 and differing by no more than 3 nucleotides from the nucleotide sequence of (SEQ ID NO: 27), and

(b) at least one double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) for inhibiting expression EGLN3, wherein said dsRNA for inhibiting expression of EGLN3 comprises a sense strand and an antisense strand, wherein the sense strand comprises at least 15 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 282 and differing by no more than 3 nucleotides from the nucleotide sequence of (SEQ ID NO: 282) and the antisense strand comprises at least 15 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 283 and differing by no more than 3 nucleotides from the nucleotide sequence of (SEQ ID NO: 283).

2. A composition comprising

(a) at least one double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) for inhibiting expression of EGLN1, wherein said dsRNA comprises a sense strand and an antisense strand, wherein the sense strand comprises at least 15 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 26 and differing by no more than 3 nucleotides from the nucleotide sequence of (SEQ ID NO: 26) and the antisense strand comprises at least 15 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 27 and differing by no more than 3 nucleotides from the nucleotide sequence of (SEQ ID NO: 27), and

(b) at least one double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) for inhibiting expression of EGLN2 comprises a sense strand and an antisense strand, wherein the sense strand comprises at least 15 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 176 and differing by no more than 3 nucleotides from the nucleotide sequence of (SEQ ID NO: 176) and the antisense strand comprises at least 15 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 177 and differing by no more than 3 nucleotides from the nucleotide sequence of (SEQ ID NO: 177).

3. The composition of claim 1 or claim 2 , wherein each dsRNA targeting each of EGLN1, EGLN2 and EGLN3 comprises at least one modified nucleotide.

4. The composition of claim 3 , wherein at least one of said modified nucleotides is chosen from the group consisting of: a 2′-O-methyl modified nucleotide, a nucleotide comprising a 5′-phosphorothioate group, and a terminal nucleotide linked to a cholesteryl derivative or dodecanoic acid bisdecylamide group.

5. The composition of claim 4 , wherein said modified nucleotide is chosen from the group consisting 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.

6. The composition of claim 5 , wherein the each of the sense:antisense strand pairs of each of the double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) for inhibiting expression of EGLN1, EGLN2 and EGLN3 contains a region of complementarity between the sense and antisense strands which is at least 17 nucleotides in length.

7. The composition of claim 6 , wherein the region of complementarity is between 19 and 21 nucleotides in length.

8. The composition of claim 7 , wherein the region of complementarity is 19 nucleotides in length.

9. The composition of claim 1 , wherein each strand of each of the sense:antisense strand pairs of each of the double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) for inhibiting expression of EGLN1, EGLN2 and EGLN3 is no more than 30 nucleotides in length.

10. The composition of claim 9 , wherein at least one strand of each of the sense:antisense strand pairs of each of the double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) for inhibiting expression of EGLN1, EGLN2 and EGLN3 comprises a 3′ overhang of at least 1 nucleotide.

11. The composition of claim 10 , wherein at least one strand of each of the sense:antisense strand pairs of each of the double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) for inhibiting expression of EGLN1, EGLN2 and EGLN3 comprises a 3′ overhang of at least 2 nucleotides.

12. A composition comprising

(a) at least one double-strand ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) for inhibiting expression of EGLN1, wherein said dsRNA comprises a sense strand and an antisense strand, wherein the sense strand comprises at least 15 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 88 and differing by no more than 3 nucleotides from the nucleotide sequence of (SEQ ID NO: 88) and the antisense strand comprises at least 15 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 89 and differing by no more than 3 nucleotides from the nucleotide sequence of (SEQ ID NO: 89), and

(b) at least one double-strand ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) for inhibiting expression of EGLN3, wherein said dsRNA for inhibiting expression of EGLN3, comprises a sense strand and an antisense strand, wherein the sense strand comprises at least 15 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 346 and differing by no more than 3 nucleotides from the nucleotide sequence of (SEQ ID NO: 346) and the antisense strand comprises at least 15 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 347 and differing by no more than 3 nucleotides from the nucleotide sequence of (SEQ ID NO: 347),

wherein each of the sense strand and antisense strand of each of the double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) for inhibiting expression of EGLN1 and EGLN3 is no more than 30 nucleotides in length and wherein at least one strand of each of the sense strand and antisense strand of each of the double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) for inhibiting expression of EGLN1 and EGLN3 comprises a 3′ overhang of at least 2 nucleotides.

13. A composition comprising

(a) at least one double-strand ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) for inhibiting expression of EGLN1 comprises a sense strand and an antisense strand, wherein the sense strand comprises at least 15 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 88 and differing by no more than 3 nucleotides from the nucleotide sequence of (SEQ ID NO: 88) and the antisense strand comprises at least 15 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 89 and differing by no more than 3 nucleotides from the nucleotide sequence of (SEQ ID NO: 89), and

(b) at least one double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) for inhibiting expression of EGLN2 comprises a sense strand and an antisense strand, wherein the sense strand comprises at least 15 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 240 and differing by no more than 3 nucleotides from the nucleotide sequence of (SEQ ID NO: 240) and the antisense strand comprises at least 15 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 241 and differing by no more than 3 nucleotides from the nucleotide sequence of (SEQ ID NO: 241), wherein each of the sense strand and antisense strand of each of the double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) for inhibiting expression of EGLN1 and EGLN2 is no more than 30 nucleotides in length and wherein at least one strand of each of the sense strand and antisense strand of each of the double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) for inhibiting expression of EGLN1 and EGLN2 comprises a 3′ overhang of at least 2 nucleotides.

14. The composition of claim 1 or claim 2 , further comprising a ligand conjugated to the 3′ end of the sense strand of any of the double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) for inhibiting expression of EGLN1, EGLN2 or EGLN3.

15. A pharmaceutical composition for inhibiting expression of an EGLN gene comprising the composition of claim 1 .

16. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 15 , further comprising a lipid formulation.

17. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 16 , wherein the lipid formulation is a MC3 formulation.

18. A method of inhibiting EGLN1, EGLN2 and EGLN3 expression in a cell, the method comprising:

(a) introducing into the cell the 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 an EGLN gene, thereby inhibiting expression of the EGLN gene in the cell.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein EGLN1, EGLN2 and EGLN3 expression are each inhibited by at least 30%.

20. A method of treating a disorder mediated by EGLN expression comprising administering to a human in need of such treatment a therapeutically effective amount of the composition of claim 1 .

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the human has anemia or a condition associated with anemia.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the anemia is selected from the group consisting of anemia due to B12 deficiency, anemia due to folate deficiency, anemia due to iron deficiency, hemolytic anemia, hemolytic anemia due to G-6-PD deficiency, idiopathic aplastic anemia, idiopathic autoimmune hemolytic anemia, immune hemolytic anemia, iegaloblastic anemia, pernicious anemia, secondary aplastic anemia, and sickle cell anemia.

23. The method of claim 21 , wherein the condition associated with anemia is selected from the group consisting of pale skin, dizziness, fatigue, headaches, irritability, low body temperature, numb/cold hands or feet, rapid heartbeat, reduced erythropoietin, shortness of breath, weakness and chest pain.

24. The method of claim 20 , wherein the human has a disorder selected from the group consisting of hypoxia, a neurological condition, renal disease or failure, and cancers of the blood, bone and marrow.

25. A method of increasing erythropoietin levels in a cell or organism comprising contacting said cell or organism with the composition of claim 1 .

26. A method of increasing erythropoietin levels in a cell or organism comprising contacting said cell or organism with the composition of claim 2 .

27. A method of increasing erythropoietin levels in a cell or organism comprising contacting said cell or organism with the composition of claim 12 or 13 .