Author(s)

Yasutada Imamura^1*, Suzuka Tsuboi¹, Toru Sugiyama², Atsushi Kittaka³, Yonchol Shin¹

¹Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Kogakuin University, Tokyo, Japan.
²Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
³Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Teikyo University, Tokyo, Japan.

In this study, we prepared a peptide nucleic acid (PNA) against the gene coding for the human alpha 1 chain of type I collagen. This PNA was incorporated into normal human fibroblast cells by electroporation, leading to a decrease in the mRNA level of the gene. Furthermore, mRNA for the alpha 2 chain of type I collagen was also reduced. The production of collagen protein exhibited a similar profile to the changes in mRNA. These results indicate that PNA targeting COL1A1 is effective as an antigene reagent, and opens the possibility of future clinical applications in fibroproliferative disorders.

Collagen, PNA, Antigene, Fibrosis, Vimentin

Imamura, Y. , Tsuboi, S. , Sugiyama, T. , Kittaka, A. and Shin, Y. (2015) A Peptide Nucleic Acid to Reduce Type I Collagen Production by Fibroblast Cells. Open Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 5, 1-8. doi: 10.4236/ojmc.2015.51001.