Cell Type Distribution of Intrathecal Antisense Oligonucleotide Activity in Deep Brain Regions of Non-Human Primates.

Nucleic acid therapeutics
Authors
Keywords
Abstract

Intrathecally administered RNase H1-active gapmer antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) are promising therapeutics for brain diseases where lowering the expression of one target gene is expected to be therapeutically beneficial. Such ASOs are active, to varying degrees, across most or all cell types in the cortex and cerebellum of mouse and non-human primate (NHP) brain regions with substantial drug accumulation. Intrathecally delivered ASOs, however, exhibit a gradient of exposure across the brain, with more limited drug accumulation and weaker target engagement in deep brain regions of NHP. Here, we profiled the activity of a tool, ASO, against in three deep brain regions of NHP: thalamus, caudate, and putamen. All neuronal subtypes exhibited knockdown similar to, or deeper than, the bulk tissue. Among non-neuronal cells, knockdown was deepest in microglia and weakest in endothelial stalk. Overall, we observed broad target engagement across all cell types detected, supporting the relevance of intrathecal ASOs to diseases with deep brain involvement.

Year of Publication
2025
Journal
Nucleic acid therapeutics
Date Published
09/2025
ISSN
2159-3345
DOI
10.1177/21593337251371594
PubMed ID
40857674
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