Compositions and methods for inhibiting expression of CD274/PD-L1 gene

1. A double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA), wherein said dsRNA comprises a sense strand and an antisense strand, wherein the antisense strand comprises at least 15 contiguous nucleotides differing by no more than 3 nucleotides from the nucleotide sequence of 5′-UGUCAUAUUGCUACCAUAC-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 138), wherein said antisense strand further comprises a 2′-deoxythymidine nucleotide at the 3′ end and each strand is no more than 30 nucleotides in length.

2. The dsRNA of claim 1 , wherein said dsRNA comprises: a 2′-O-methyl modified nucleotide, a nucleotide comprising a 5′-phosphorothioate group, or a terminal nucleotide linked to a cholesteryl derivative or dodecanoic acid bisdecylamide group.

3. The dsRNA of claim 1 , wherein said dsRNA comprises: 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, or a non-natural base comprising nucleotide.

4. The dsRNA of a claim 1 , wherein the sense strand is complementary to the antisense strand, and the region of complementarity is between 19 and 21 nucleotides in length.

5. The dsRNA of claim 4 , wherein the region of complementarity is 19 nucleotides in length.

6. The dsRNA of claim 1 , wherein at least one strand comprises a 3′ overhang of at least 1 nucleotide.

7. The dsRNA of claim 1 , wherein at least one strand comprises a 3′ overhang of at least 2 nucleotides.

8. The dsRNA of claim 1 , further comprising a ligand.

9. The dsRNA of claim 1 , wherein the region of complementarity consists of SEQ ID NO: 138.

10. The dsRNA of claim 1 , wherein the sense strand consists of 5′-GuAuGGuAGcAAuAuGAcAdTsdT-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 569) and the antisense strand consists of 5′-UGUcAuAUUGCuACcAuACdTsdT-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 570);

wherein A, C, G, and U are adenosine, cytidine, guanosine, and uridine, respectively; a, c, g, and u are 2′-O-methyladenosine, 2′-O-methylcytidine, 2′-O-methylguanosine, and 2′-O-methyluridine, respectively; dT is 2′-deoxythymidine; and s is a phosphorothioate linkage.

11. A cell containing the dsRNA of claim 1 .

12. A pharmaceutical composition comprising a dsRNA of claim 1 and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

13. A method of inhibiting CD274/PD-L1 expression in a cell, the method comprising:

(a) introducing into the cell a double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) 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 CD274/PD-L1 gene, thereby inhibiting expression of the CD274/PD-L1 gene in the cell.