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Updated: Jul 21, 2026

Development of Cell-type specific anti-HIV gp120 aptamers for siRNA delivery
Published on: June 23, 2011
Prevention of HIV-1 infection in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells by specific RNA interference
Wee-Sung Park1, Naoko Miyano-Kurosaki, Masaaki Hayafune
1Department of Industrial Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Chiba Institute of Technology, 2-17-1 Tsudanuma, Narashino-shi, Chiba 275-0016, Japan.
Abstract:
The RNA interference (RNAi) phenomenon is a recently observed process in which the introduction of a double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) into a cell causes the specific degradation of a mRNA containing the same sequence. The 21-23 nt guide RNAs, generated by RNase III cleavage from longer dsRNAs, are associated with sequence-specific mRNA degradation. Here, we show that dsRNA specifically suppresses the expression of HIV-1 genes. To study dsRNA-mediated gene interference in HIV-1-infected cells, we have designed six long dsRNAs containing the HIV-1 gag and env genes. HIV-1 replication was totally suppressed in a sequence-specific manner by the dsRNAs in HIV-1-infected cells. Especially, E2 dsRNA containing the major CD4-binding domain sequence of gp120, as the target of the HIV-1 env gene, dramatically inhibited the expression of the HIV-1 p24 antigen in PBMCs for a relatively long time. The dsRNA interference method seems to be a promising new strategy for anti-HIV-1 gene therapeutics.
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