Inhibition of Pokemon Gene Expression by Antisense Oligonucleotides

Abstract

Pokemon is an important transcription factor that regulates the important tumor suppressor alternative reading frame (ARF). Pokemon is overexpressed in multiple human cancers. Lack of Pokemon causes cellular senescence, apoptosis, and blockage of differentiation. We've designed and synthesized four 18-mer phosphorothioate modified antisense oligonucleotides targeting the coding regions of Pokemon mRNA, and investigated the down-regulation of Pokemon expression by measuring the fluorescence intensity of Pokemon-GFP fusion protein in COS-7 cells. Antisense oligonucleotide As4, targeting 1496–1513 sites of Pokemon mRNA, has been proven as the most potent compound and down-regulates the expression of Pokemon-GFP fusion protein to 22% at 40 nmol/L for 24 h.

Keywords:

• Antisense oligonucleotides
• EGFP
• pokemon

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the financial supports from the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation (20572060, 20472043), the Project of Science and Technology of Guangdong Province (2005A11601008), and Mega-Project of Science Research of Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2005CCA03400).