A dual function TAR Decoy serves as an anti-HIV siRNA delivery vehicle.
The TAR RNA of HIV was engineered as an siRNA delivery vehicle to develop a combinatorial therapeutic approach. The TAR backbone was found to be a versatile backbone for expressing siRNAs. Upon expression in human cells, pronounced and specific inhibition of reporter gene expression was observed with TARmiR. The resulting TARmiR construct retained its ability to bind Tat and mediate RNAi. TARmiR was able to inhibit HIV gene expression as a TAR decoy and by RNA interference when challenged with infectious proviral DNA. The implications of this dual function therapeutic would be discussed.
Unwalla
Hoshang J
HJ
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL 33136, USA. h.unwalla@miami.edu
Rossi
John J
JJ
D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D001688:Biological Products / Q000235:genetics / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002460:Cell Line; D055785:Gene Knockdown Techniques; D006678:HIV / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D016325:HIV Long Terminal Repeat / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000235:genetics / Q000494:pharmacology*
D019380:Anti-HIV Agents; D001688:Biological Products; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering