Editorial Do Antisense Approaches to the Problem of Restenosis Make Sense?

Antisense oligodeoxynucleotides, by inhibiting the expression of specific gene products, provide a theoretically simple and precise tool for identi-fying mechanisms responsible for various cellular pro-cesses. The capacity to block specific gene expression also raises the possibility of multiple therapeutic oppor-tunities, one of which is to inhibit the restenosis process. In principle, an oligodeoxynucleotide synthesized with a base sequence complementary (antisense) to a specific messenger RNA (mRNA) sequence will bind to that sequence and inhibit translation of the targeted mRNA. Although the precise mechanisms responsible for inhibition of translation in eukaryotic cells are not precisely known, it is generally believed that an an-tisense-sense duplex forms in the cytoplasm; the duple