Methods and compositions for the specific inhibitions of egfr by double-stranded rna

An isolated dsNA comprising ribonucleotides, consisting of:

• (a) a sense region and an antisense region, wherein said sense region and said antisense region together form a duplex region consisting of 25-35 base pairs and said antisense region comprises a sequence comprising at least 19 contiguous nucleotides that are complementary to a sequence selected from Tables 17 and 18;
• and (b) from zero to two 3′ overhang regions, wherein each overhang region is six or fewer nucleotides in length.

An isolated dsNA comprising ribonucleotides, consisting of:

• (a) a sense region and an antisense region, wherein said sense region and said antisense region together form a duplex region consisting of 25-35 base pairs and said antisense region comprises a sequence that is the complement of a sequence selected from Tables 17-23;
• and (b) from zero to two 3′ overhang regions, wherein each overhang region is six or fewer nucleotides in length.

An isolated dsNA comprising ribonucleotides, consisting of:

• (a) a sense region and an antisense region, wherein said sense region and said antisense region together form a duplex region consisting of 25-35 base pairs and said antisense region comprises a sequence that is the complement of a sequence selected from Tables 17-23;
• and (b) from zero to two 3′ overhang regions, wherein each overhang region is six or fewer nucleotides in length, and wherein, starting from the 5′ end (position 1) of a EGFR mRNA sequence selected from Tables 17-26 (position 1), mammalian Ago2 cleaves said mRNA at a site between positions 9 and 10 of said sequence.

An isolated dsNA comprising first and second nucleic acid strands comprising ribonucleotides and a duplex region of at least 25 base pairs, wherein said first strand is 25-34 nucleotides in length and comprises a 5′-terminus and a 3′-terminus and said second strand of said dsNA is 26-35 nucleotides in length and comprises a 5′-terminus and a 3′-terminus and comprises 1-5 single-stranded nucleotides at its 3′ terminus, wherein said second oligonucleotide strand is sufficiently complementary to a target EGFR mRNA sequence selected from the group consisting of Tables 17-26 and SEQ ID NOs:

• 2137-2396 along at least 19 nucleotides of said second oligonucleotide strand length to reduce EGFR target gene expression when said double stranded nucleic acid is introduced into a mammalian cell.

An isolated dsNA comprising first and second nucleic acid strands comprising ribonucleotides and a duplex region of at least 25 base pairs, wherein said first strand is 25-34 nucleotides in length and said second strand of said dsNA is 26-35 nucleotides in length and comprises 1-5 single-stranded nucleotides at its 3′ terminus, wherein the 3′ terminus of said first oligonucleotide strand and the 5′ terminus of said second oligonucleotide strand form a blunt end, and said second oligonucleotide strand is sufficiently complementary to a target EGFR sequence selected from the group consisting of Tables 17-26 and SEQ ID NOs:

• 2137-2396 along at least 19 nucleotides of said second oligonucleotide strand length to reduce EGFR mRNA expression when said double stranded nucleic acid is introduced into a mammalian cell.

47-50. (canceled)