Claims for Patent: 9,714,422

Summary for Patent: 9,714,422

Title:	Reducing intron retention
Abstract:	Disclosed herein are methods, compositions, polynucleic acid polymers, assays, and kits for inducing processing of a partially processed mRNA transcript to remove a retained intron to produce a fully processed mRNA transcript that encodes a full-length functional form of a protein. Also described herein are methods and compositions for treating a disease or condition characterized by impaired production of a full-length functional form of a protein or for treating a disease or condition characterized by a defective splicing in a subject.
Inventor(s):	Vorechovsky; Igor (Southampton, GB), Kralovicova; Jana (Southampton, GB)
Assignee:	UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON (Southampton, Hampshire, GB)
Application Number:	15/148,303
Patent Claims:	1. A method of inducing processing of a partially processed mRNA transcript to facilitate removal of an entire retained intron to produce a fully processed mRNA transcript that encodes a functional form of a protein, the method comprising: (a) contacting an isolated polynucleic acid polymer to a target cell of a subject, wherein the polynucleic acid polymer is from about 10 to about 50 nucleotides in length; (b) hybridizing the isolated polynucleic acid polymer to a wild-type target sequence of the partially processed mRNA transcript, wherein the polynucleic acid polymer comprises a sequence that is complementary to at least 10 contiguous bases of the wild-type target sequence, wherein the partially processed mRNA transcript is capable of encoding the functional form of a protein and comprises at least one entire retained intron, optionally interfering with one or more conformational transitions of canonical and noncanonical RNA structures or interacting with trans-acting factors that bind to an intron; (c) removing the at least one entire retained intron from the partially processed mRNA transcript to produce the fully processed mRNA transcript that encodes the functional form of a protein; and (d) translating the functional form of a protein from the fully processed mRNA transcript. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the intron of step (b) is an INS intron. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the partially processed mRNA transcript comprising the entire retained intron further induces a disease or condition or a predisposition to a disease or condition. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the disease or condition is diabetes. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the polynucleic acid polymer comprises an artificial nucleotide. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the artificial nucleotide is selected from the group consisting of 2'-O-methyl, 2'-O-methoxyethyl (2'-O-MOE), 2'-O-aminopropyl, 2'-deoxy, T-deoxy-2'-fluoro, 2'-O-aminopropyl (2'-O-AP), 2'-O-dimethylaminoethyl (2'-O-DMAOE), 2'-O-dimethylaminopropyl (2'-O-DMAP), T-O-dimethylaminoethyloxyethyl (2'-O-DMAEOE), 2'-O--N-methylacetamido (2'-O-NMA), a locked nucleic acid (LNA), an ethylene nucleic acid (ENA), a peptide nucleic acid (PNA), anhydrohexitol nucleic acid (HNA), a morpholino, a methylphosphonate nucleotide, a thiolphosphonate nucleotide, and a 2'-fluoro N3-P5'-phosphoramidite. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the subject is human. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the target sequence is a binding motif that forms a hairpin structure. 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the target sequence is between two G quadruplexes of a partially processed mRNA transcript. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the target sequence is within the entire retained intron of the partially processed mRNA transcript. 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the target sequence does not form a G quadruplex. 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the target sequence is an intronic sequence. 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the intronic sequence comprises an intronic splicing regulatory element comprising a first CCC motif or a second CCC motif. 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the polynucleic acid polymer is from about 10 to about 30 nucleotides in length. 15. The method of claim 1, wherein the polynucleic acid polymer comprises a sequence that is at least 60% complementary to the wild-type target sequence of the partially processed mRNA transcript. 16. The method of claim 1, wherein the polynucleic acid polymer comprises a sequence that is complementary to a sequence with: (i) at least 80% sequence identity to at least 13 contiguous bases of SEQ ID NO: 46; (ii) at least 10 contiguous bases of SEQ ID NO: 46; (iii) at least 80% sequence identity to a sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 6, SEQ ID NO: 9, SEQ ID NO: 12, SEQ ID NO: 15, SEQ ID NO: 18, SEQ ID NO: 21, SEQ ID NO: 24, SEQ ID NO: 27, SEQ ID NO: 30, SEQ ID NO: 33, SEQ ID NO: 36, SEQ ID NO: 39, SEQ ID NO: 42, and SEQ ID NO: 45; or (iv) at least 60% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 3. 17. The method of claim 1, wherein the polynucleic acid polymer is modified at a nucleoside moiety, at a phosphate moiety, at a 5' terminus, at a 3' terminus, or a combination thereof. 18. The method of claim 3, wherein the disease or condition is a hereditary disease. 19. The method of claim 1, wherein the polynucleic acid polymer comprises a sequence having at least 80% sequence identity to at least 13 contiguous bases of a sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 47-434. 20. The method of any one of claims 1-7, 8-13 and 14-19, wherein the wild-type target sequence does not comprise a mutation-induced aberrant splice site.

Details for Patent 9,714,422

Applicant	Tradename	Biologic Ingredient	Dosage Form	BLA	Approval Date	Patent No.	Expiredate
Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.	INTRON A	interferon alfa-2b	For Injection	103132	06/04/1986		2034-06-16
Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.	INTRON A	interferon alfa-2b	For Injection	103132			2034-06-16
Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.	INTRON A	interferon alfa-2b	Injection	103132			2034-06-16