title: Antiviral activity of highly potent siRNAs against echovirus 30 and its receptor.
abstract: RNA interference (RNAi) has been shown to be suitable to inhibit viruses in experimental setups and is considered a promising antiviral strategy that is currently being tested in various clinical trials. The present study provides an approach to design siRNAs with high potency against a virus-specific target gene. In recent years, several outbreaks of aseptic meningitis caused by an echovirus 30 (EV-30) infection have been described. Based on an initial set of 30 in silico designed siRNAs, six siRNAs targeting the 3D RNA-dependent RNA-Polymerase (3D(Pol)) of EV-30 were selected. All but one of them showed high efficiency in both, reporter and virus assays. A second aim of the study was to re-investigate the relevance of the decay-accelerating factor (DAF, also known as CD55) as cellular entry receptor of EV-30 by means of RNAi, a question which had been under debate in previous studies. Knockdown of DAF inhibited drastically infection by EV-30 indicating that DAF plays an important role either as an attachment factor or as a receptor.
authors.affiliation: University of Stuttgart, Institute of Industrial Genetics, Allmandring, Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rothe
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Werk
authors.forename: Sonja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Niedrig
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Horbelt
authors.forename: Hans-Peter
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Grunert
authors.forename: Heinz
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zeichhardt
authors.forename: Volker A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Erdmann
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kurreck
mesh_terms: D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002460:Cell Line; D029822:Enterovirus B, Human / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D055785:Gene Knockdown Techniques; D006801:Humans; D034622:RNA Interference; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000235:genetics / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012324:RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D011991:Receptors, Virus / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000235:genetics; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D011991:Receptors, Virus; D014764:Viral Proteins; D012324:RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase