Antisense antiviral compound and method for treating influenza viral infection

Abstract

The invention provides antisense antiviral compounds and methods of their use and production in inhibition of growth of viruses of the Orthomyxoviridae family and in the treatment of a viral infection. The compounds are particularly useful in the treatment of influenza virus infection in a mammal. The antisense antiviral compounds are substantially uncharged morpholino oligonucleotides having 1) a nuclease resistant backbone, 2) 12-40 nucleotide bases, and 3) a targeting sequence of at least 12 bases in length that hybridizes to a target region selected from the following: a) the 5′ or 3′ terminal 25 bases of the negative sense viral RNA segment of Influenzavirus A, Influenzavirus B and Influenzavirus C; b) the terminal 25 bases of the 3′ terminus of the positive sense cRNA and; and c) the 50 bases surrounding the AUG start codon of an influenza viral mRNA.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.