Antisense oligonucleotides for immunotherapy

Abstract

The invention relates to antisense oligonucleotides (AON) capable of inducing the skip of at least exon 3 from (human) CD274 pre-mRNA to render a shortened PD-L1 protein, and thereby modulating the function of PD-L1. Preferably, PD-L1 that is produced after the skip of exon 3 from its pre-mRNA is no longer able to traffic to the cell membrane and/or is no longer able to (fully) interact with its receptor PD-1. The result is preferably that the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway is blocked and T cell exhaustion is diminished, prevented or lowered. The AONs of the present invention are particularly useful in immunotherapy and can be applied in the treatment, prevention, and amelioration of (acute or chronic) viral infections, cancer and (auto-) immune disease, especially those disorders in which T cell exhaustion plays a role. The invention relates to AONs, pharmaceutical compositions comprising such AONs, and viral vectors expressing such AONs, that may be used in the treatment of subjects that may benefit from modulation of PD-L1 function.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.