title: Efficient inhibition of human immunodeficiency virus replication using novel modified microRNA-30a targeting 3'-untranslated region transcripts.
abstract: RNA interference (RNAi)-based gene therapy is currently considered to be a combinatorial anti-human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) therapy. Although artificial polycistronic microRNAs (miRs) can reduce HIV-1 escape mutant variants, this approach may increase the risk of side effects. The present study aimed to optimize the efficiency of anti-HIV RNAi gene therapy in order to reduce the cell toxicity induced by multi-short hairpin RNA expression. An artificial miR-30a-3'-untranslated region (miR-3-UTR) obtained from a single RNA polymerase II was used to simultaneously target all viral transcripts. The results of the present study demonstrated that HIV-1 replication was significantly inhibited in the cells with the miR-3-UTR construct, suggesting that miR-3'-UTR may serve as a promising tool for RNAi-based gene therapy in the treatment of HIV-1.
authors.affiliation: Virology Department, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 14716-13151, Iran.
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nejati
authors.affiliation: Virology Department, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 14716-13151, Iran.
authors.forename: Shohreh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shahmahmoodi
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Center, College of Science, University of Tehran, Tehran 14176-14411, Iran; Department of Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering, Stem Cell Technology Research Center, Tehran 19977-75555, Iran.
authors.forename: Ehsan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Arefian
authors.affiliation: Virology Department, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran 13169-43551, Iran.
authors.forename: Zabihollah
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shoja
authors.affiliation: Virology Department, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 14716-13151, Iran.
authors.forename: Sayed-Mahdi
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Marashi
authors.affiliation: Virology Department, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 14716-13151, Iran.
authors.forename: Hamideh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tabatabaie
authors.affiliation: Immunology Department, Iran University of Medical Science, Tehran 14716-13151, Iran.
authors.forename: Yaghoub
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mollaei-Kandelous
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering, Stem Cell Technology Research Center, Tehran 19977-75555, Iran; Department of Medical Physics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran 14117-13116, Iran.
authors.forename: Masoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Soleimani
authors.affiliation: Virology Department, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 14716-13151, Iran.
authors.forename: Rakhshandeh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nategh
keywords: 3′-untranslated region; RNA interference; artificial microRNA; human immunodeficiency virus