Intracellular approach for blocking JC virus gene expression by using RNA interference during viral infection

The human polyomavirus, JC virus (JCV), encodes two regulatory proteins at the early (T antigen) and the late (agnoprotein) phases of viral infection whose activities are important for the production of the viral capsid proteins and the dysregulation of several host factors and their functions. For this study, we designed and utilized an RNA interference strategy via small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) that targeted the expression of T antigen and agnoprotein in human astrocytic cells. The treatment of cells with specific siRNA oligonucleotides targeting a conserved region of T antigen, nucleotides (nt) 4256 to 4276 (Mad-1 strain), caused a >50% decline in the level of T antigen and in its transcriptional activity upon the viral capsid genes as well as a significant reduction in viral DNA replication in infected cells. Similarly, a single siRNA that aimed at nt 324 to 342 of agnoprotein noticeably reduced early and late viral protein production. A combined treatment of the infected cells with both T-antigen and agnoprotein siRNAs completely abolished viral capsid protein production, indicative of the ability of the siRNAs to effectively halt multiplication of the virus in infected cells. These observations provide a new avenue for possible treatments of patients with the JCV-induced demyelinating disease progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy.