Kumamoto University and StapleBio Inc. have developed a new Staple oligomer, the G-tract-supply Staple oligomer (Gs-Staple oligomer), which greatly expands the range of genes targetable by RNA hacking. These research results were published in the international journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition of the German Chemical Society on February 26, 2026.
RNA hacking is a novel gene regulation technology that uses a short synthetic nucleic acid, called a Staple oligomer, to induce an RNA G-quadruplex (rG4) structure on a target mRNA and thereby regulate protein expression levels. In this study, the researchers introduced a new Staple oligomer design that incorporates G-tract sequences, enabling RNA hacking to target genes that were previously difficult to address due to sequence constraints. This achievement is expected to expand the theoretically addressable gene space of RNA hacking to nearly all human genes and to greatly broaden its potential as a next-generation nucleic acid therapeutic platform.
Article title :
Expanded Gene Targeting in RNA Hacking With G-Tract-Supply Staple Oligomers
Authors :
Tomoki Kida, Yua Hasegawa, Miko Kato, Mahiro Ohtani, Ayu Matsumoto, Ririka Taniguchi, Rinka Ohno, Hiroshi Sugiyama, Toshihiro Ihara, Masaki Hagihara, Shin-ichi Sato, Yousuke Katsuda
Angewandte Chemie International Edition, First published: 22 February 2026
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202521666