title: Specific inhibition of HIV-1 gene expression by double-stranded RNA.
abstract: RNA interference (RNAi) is phenomenon in which introduced double-stranded RNAs (ds-RNAs) silence gene expression through specific degradation of their cognate mRNAs. RNAi has been observed in a wide variety of organisms and is considered to be a feature of nearly all eukaryotes. The mediators of sequence specific messenger RNA degradation are 21-23 nucleotide small interfering RNAs generated by ribonucleaseIII cleavage from longer dsRNAs. To investigate the potential of dsRNA to interfere with the function of HIV-1 genes, we have designed six longer dsRNAs containing the HIV-1 gag and env genes. Double-stranded RNAs were tested for inhibitory effects using monkey COS cells. In these anti-HIV-1 activity tests, the dsRNAs targeted to the HIV-1 env sequence showed more than 90% anti-HIV-1 efficiency. Our results show that dsRNA interference can be used as a powerful method for the inhibition of HIV-1 gene expression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Industrial Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Chiba Institute of Technology, 2-17-1 Tsudanuma, Narashino-shi, Chiba 275-0016, Japan.
authors.forename: W S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Miyano-Kurosaki
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takaku
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019556:COS Cells; D015870:Gene Expression; D015752:Genes, env; D015750:Genes, gag; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D034622:RNA Interference; D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded / Q000235:genetics*; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000235:genetics*; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering