antisense DNA

(AN-tee-sents …) Small pieces of DNA that can bind to specific molecules of RNA and block the cell's ability to use the RNA to make a protein. Antisense DNA may be used to block the production of proteins needed for cell growth. It is being studied in the treatment of several types of cancer. It is a type of gene expression inhibitor.

One of the two strands of double-stranded DNA, usually that which is complementary (hence "anti") to the mRNA, i.e. the non-transcribed strand. However, there is not universal agreement on this convention, and the preferred designations are coding strand for the strand whose sequence matches that of the mRNA, and non-coding strand or template strand for the complementary strand (i.e. the transcription template).