Preclinical Evaluation of the Renal Toxicity of Oligonucleotide Therapeutics in Mice

Abstract

Antisense oligonucleotides (ASO) therapeutics hold great promise for the treatment of numerous diseases, and several ASO drugs have now reached market approval, confirming the potential of this approach. However, some candidates have also failed, due to limited biodistribution/uptake and poor safety profile. In pursuit of better delivery and higher cellular uptake, ASO are being optimized, and new chemistries are developed or conjugated with various ligands. While these developments may lead to candidates with higher potency, it is important to keep the safety aspects in sight and screen for potential toxicity in early phases of preclinical development to avoid subsequent failure in clinical development. Our understanding of ASO-mediated toxicity keeps improving with increased preclinical and clinical data available. In this chapter, we will focus on the assessment of renal toxicity in mice and describe methods to measure the levels of general urinary biomarkers as well as acute kidney injury biomarkers following ASO treatment.