Nuclear location of synthetic oligonucleotides microinjected somatic cells: its implication in an antisense strategy.

Synthetic oligonucleotides are widely used to modulate gene expression. However their development as genetic tools and as molecule of therapeutic interest is restricted by the poor knowledge of their mechanism of action and of their uptake by cells. We recently found that microinjected oligonucleotides accumulates in the nucleus of the cells. These observations are described and their implications are discussed.