Treatment of sodium channel, voltage-gated, alpha subunit (scna) related diseases by inhibition of natural antisense transcript to scna

A method of modulating a function of and/or the expression of a Sodium channel, voltage-gated, alpha subunit (SCNA) polynucleotide in patient cells or tissues in vivo or in vitro comprising:

• contacting said cells or tissues with at least one antisense oligonucleotide 5 to 30 nucleotides in length, wherein said oligonucleotide has at least 50% sequence identity to an antisense oligonucleotide to the Sodium channel, voltage-gated, alpha subunit (SCNA) polynucleotide;
• thereby modulating a function of and/or the expression of the Sodium channel, voltage-gated, alpha subunit (SCNA) polynucleotide in patient cells or tissues in vivo or in vitro.

A method of modulating a function of and/or the expression of a Sodium channel, voltage-gated, alpha subunit (SCNA) polynucleotide in a biological system comprising:

• contacting said system with at least one antisense oligonucleotide that targets a region of a natural antisense oligonucleotide of the Sodium channel, voltage-gated, alpha subunit (SCNA) polynucleotide;
• thereby modulating a function of and/or the expression of the Sodium channel, voltage-gated, alpha subunit:
• (SCNA) polynucleotide.

A method of modulating a. function of and/or the expression of a Sodium channel, voltage-gated, alpha subunit (SCNA) gene in mammalian cells or tissues in vivo or in vitro comprising:

• contacting said cells or tissues with at least one short interfering RNA CsiRNA) oligonucleotide 5 to 30 nucleotides in length, said at least one sIRNA oligonucleotide being specific for an antisense polynucleotide of a Sodium channel, voltage-gated, alpha subunit (SCNA) polynucleotide, wherein said at least one siRNA oligonucleotide has at least 50% sequence identity to a complementary sequence of at least about five consecutive nucleic acids of the antisense and/or sense nucleic acid molecule of the Sodium channel, voltage-gated, alpha subunit (SCNA) polynucleotide;
• and, modulating a function of and/or the expression of Sodium channel, voltage-gated, alpha subunit (SCNA) in matrmialian ceils or tissues in vivo or in vitro.

A method of modulating a function of and/or the expression of Sodium channel, voltage-gated, alpha subunit (SCNA) in mammalian cells or tissues in vivo or in vitro comprising:

• contacting said cells or tissues with at least one antisense oligonucleotide of about 5 to 30 nucleotides in length specific for noncoding and/or coding sequences of a sense and/or natural antisense strand of a Sodium channel, voltage-gated, alpha subunit (SCNA) polynucleotide wherein said at least one antisense oligonucleotide has at least 50% sequence identity to at least one nucleic acid sequence set forth as SEQ ID NOS:
• 1 to 28:
• and, modulating the function and/or expression of the Sodium channel, voltage-gated, alpha subunit (SCNA) in mammalian ceils or tissues in vivo or in vitro.

A method of preventing or treating a disease associated with, at least one Sodium channel, voltage-gated, alpha subunit (SCNA) polynucleotide and/or at least one encoded product thereof, comprising:

• administering to a patient a therapeutically effective dose of at least one antisense oligonucleotide that binds to a natural antisense sequence of said at least one Sodium channel, voltage-gated, alpha subunit (SCNA) polynucleotide and modulates expression of said at least one Sodium channel, voltage-gated, alpha subunit (SCNA) polynucleotide;
• thereby preventing or treating the disease associated with the at least one Sodium channel, voltage-gated, alpha subunit (SCNA) polynucleotide and/or at least one encoded product thereof.

A method of identifying and. selecting at least one oligonucleotide selective for a natural antisense transcript of a SCNA gene as a selected target polynucleotide for in vivo administration comprising:

• identifying at least one oligonucleotide comprising at least five consecutive nucleotides which are at least partially complementary to a polynucleotide that is antisense to the selected target polynucleotide;
• measuring the thermal melting point of a hybrid of an antisense oligonucleotide and the target polynucleotide or the polynucleotide that is antisense to the selected target polynucleotide under stringent hybridization conditions;
• and selecting at least one oligonucleotide for in vivo administration based on the information obtained.