title: Backbone modifications in oligonucleotides and peptide nucleic acid systems.
abstract: In the past year major advances have been made in the design, synthesis and characterization of two classes of modified oligonucleotides. In the first class, the phosphodiester backbone of 2'-deoxyribo-oligonucleotides has been replaced in several different ways. The second group represents a completely different type of oligonucleotide modification in which the backbone and the 2'-deoxyribose moieties are replaced by amino acids. These advances present new possibilities for the pharmaceutical applications of modified oligonucleotides in antisense strategies.
authors.affiliation: Central Research Laboratories, Ciba-Geigy Ltd, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Mesmaeker
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Altmann
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Waldner
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wendeborn
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D015394:Molecular Structure; D009696:Nucleic Acids / Q000737:chemistry*; D009841:Oligonucleotides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D016376:Oligonucleotides, Antisense
chemical_list: D009696:Nucleic Acids; D009841:Oligonucleotides; D016376:Oligonucleotides, Antisense