title: Prevention of PERV infections in pig to human xenotransplantation by the RNA interference silences gene.
abstract: The possibility of preventing the transmission of porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) to human cells using short interfering RNAs (siRNA) was investigated. The siRNA for the p30 of PERV gag region was cloned into pSUPER, the polymerase-III H1-RNA gene promoter. A green fluorescence protein (GFP) was also cloned into pSUPER to establish pSXGH. Pig endothelial cells (PEC) were transduced with the LacZ gene by pseudotype infection, and infected with PERV subtype B, resulting in the formation of PEC(LacZ)/PB. The PEC(LacZ)/PB was next transfected with pSXGH-siRNA. The expression of siRNA was provisionally checked by determining the level of expression of GFP. Culture supernatants of infected cells were then inoculated into HEK293 cells. The siRNA clearly destroyed the PERV infectivity of PEC(LacZ)/PB in both transient cell lines and stable clones. Moreover, the decreased levels of mRNA and gag protein were evidenced in the stable clones by real-time PCR and Western blotting, respectively. The final goal of our study was to establish a transgenic pig expressing the siRNA for PERV. The results suggest that siRNA represents a novel approach for controlling PERV infections in clinical xenotransplantation.
authors.affiliation: Division of Organ Transplantation, Department of Regenerative Medicine, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Osaka 565-0871. miyagawa@orgtrp.med.osaka-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Shuji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miyagawa
authors.forename: Shino
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakatsu
authors.forename: Takatoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.forename: Katsuyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsunami
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hazama
authors.forename: Junko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Keizo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tomonaga
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miyazawa
authors.forename: Ryota
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shirakura
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D020077:Endogenous Retroviruses / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D006801:Humans; D034622:RNA Interference; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012192:Retroviridae Infections / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D013552:Swine; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D034741:RNA, Small Interfering