ANTISENSE OLIGONUCLEOTIDES FOR CENTRAL-NERVOUS-SYSTEM TUMORS

THE POOR PROGNOSIS associated with malignant primary brain tumors has led investigators to seek and develop new, innovative treatment modali ties. Current adjuvant therapies lack tumor specificity, which can lea d to toxic central nervous system side effects. Advances in molecular biology now allow specific gene sequences to be inserted or targeted i n the malignant cell genome. Antisense oligodeoxynucleotides represent complementary nucleic acid sequences that can recognize and bind to t arget genes, resulting in the arrest of deoxyribonucleic acid transcri ption or the translation of messenger ribonucleic acid. Although the u se of antisense oligodeoxynucleotides is still in the experimental sta ges, these molecules enter cells in tissue culture by simple diffusion or active endocytosis and temporarily inhibit cell proliferation in a time- and dose-dependent fashion. The ability of antisense oligodeoxy nucleotides to recognize specific gene sequences and to down-regulate gene expression make them ideal agents for use in targeting oncogenes, such as c-myb, that are expressed in central nervous system neoplasms .