Tissue-specific and pathogens-specific toxic agents, ribozymes, dnazymes and antisense oligonucleotides, and methods of use thereof

Abstract

The present invention relates to the discovery, identification and characterization of toxic agents which are lethal to pathogens and methods for targeting such toxic agents to a pathogen or pathogen infected cells in order to treat and / or eradicate the infection. In particular, the present invention relates to toxic agents which target bacteria at different stages of the bacterial life cycle, which are delivered alone or in combination to bacteria or bacteria-infected cells. The invention relates to toxic agents which are lethal to diseased cells and methods for targeting such toxic agent to a diseased cell in order to treat and / or eradicate the disease. The present invention relates to promoter elements which are pathogen-specific or tissue-specific and the use of such promoter elements to achieve pathogen-specific or tissue-specific expression of the toxic agent(s) and / or ribozyme(s) of the present invention. Specifically, the invention relates to the delivery of one or more toxic gene products, antisense RNAs, or ribozymes, or combination thereof. The invention provides a novel system by which multiple pathogenic targets may be simultaneously targeted to cause the death of a pathogen, or cell infected with a pathogen. Further, the invention has important implications in the eradication of drug-resistant bacterium and bacterial pathogens. The invention provides a novel system by which multiple targets may be simultaneously targeted to cause the death of a diseased cell. The invention has important implications in the eradication of drug-resistant pathogens (such as antibiotic resistant bacteria) and drug-resistant diseased cells (such as drug-resistant cancer cells).

Description

1. INTRODUCTION[0001] The present invention relates to the discovery, identification, and characterization of toxic agents which are lethal to pathogens and methods for targeting and delivering such toxic agents to a pathogen or pathogen infected cell in order to treat and / or eradicate an infection. In particular, the present invention relates to toxic agents which target bacteria at different stages of the bacterial life cycle, which are delivered alone or in combination to bacteria or bacteria-infected cells. In particular, the invention relates to a phage delivery vehicle approach for the treatment of bacterial infections in humans and animals. The invention also relates to toxic agents which are lethal to diseased cells and methods for targeting such toxic agents to a diseased cell in order to treat and / or eradicate the disease. The present invention relates to promoter elements which are pathogen-specific. The invention also relates to promoter elements which are used to achiev...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides toxic agents and methods for specifically targeting bacteria or other pathogens in humans or animals. These toxic agents can be delivered as single agents or in combination to effectively eradicate bacteria or inhibit their growth. The invention also includes the use of ribozymes and phage delivery systems for treating bacterial infections. The invention further includes the use of antisense RNA and modified antisense structures to target essential nucleotide sequences. The invention also provides multi-ribozymes for targeting RNA in a tissue-specific or pathogen-specific manner for the treatment of disease.

Problems solved by technology

Infectious diseases sicken or kill millions of people each year.

Infections by this organism are associated with high mortality (60%), which is attributed to the high intrinsic resistance of members of this genus to many structurally unrelated antibiotics.

Only a very limited number of new antibiotics have come onto the market in the last decade, yet the number of deadly bacteria that are resistant to these drug therapies has soared.

Additionally, the failure of many of these therapies to target specific infectious agents has lead to overuse or inappropriate use of the therapies, which in turn has lead to the development of drug resistant microbes.

The development of drug resistance in many infectious agents has reduced the efficacy and increased the risk of using the traditional antimicrobial therapies.

However, a large number of difficulties exist in the art surrounding antisense technology.

Commonly, delivery of an exogenous antisense molecule to the target cell is difficult or impossible to achieve.

Further, antisense molecules do not consistently lead to a decrease in protein expression.

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