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.