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. 2022 Jul 5:1–7. Online ahead of print. doi: 10.1007/s40242-022-2186-7

Functional Xeno Nucleic Acids for Biomedical Application

Tingting Tu 1, Shuangyan Huan 1,✉, Guoliang Ke 1,✉, Xiaobing Zhang 1
PMCID: PMC9253239  PMID: 35814030

Abstract

Functional nucleic acids(FNAs) refer to a type of oligonucleotides with functions over the traditional genetic roles of nucleic acids, which have been widely applied in screening, sensing and imaging fields. However, the potential application of FNAs in biomedical field is still restricted by the unsatisfactory stability, biocompatibility, biodistribution and immunity of natural nucleic acids(DNA/RNA). Xeno nucleic acids(XNAs) are a kind of nucleic acid analogues with chemically modified sugar groups that possess improved biological properties, including improved biological stability, increased binding affinity, reduced immune responses, and enhanced cell penetration or tissue specificity. In the last two decades, scientists have made great progress in the research of functional xeno nucleic acids, which makes it an emerging attractive biomedical application material. In this review, we summarized the design of functional xeno nucleic acids and their applications in the biomedical field.

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Keywords: Functional nucleic acid, Xeno nucleic acid, Chemical modification, Biomedical application

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.22122403, 21977027, 21890744) and the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province, China(Nos. 2021JJ10012, 2019RS1031).

Footnotes

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Contributor Information

Shuangyan Huan, Email: syhuan@hnu.edu.cn.

Guoliang Ke, Email: glke@hnu.edu.cn.

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