KNOCKING OUT HCV RNA REPLICATION BY RNA INTERFERENCE

Abstract

Background: Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is a serious problem of chronic liver disease. It may lead to development of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Therapy used to treat patients with chronic HCV infection includes treatment with interferon either on its own or in combination with ribavirin. Some infection cases do not respond to treatment and an alternative treatment is mandatory. Method: RNA interference (RNAi) is an antiviral mechanism which is present in plants that induces double-stranded RNA degradation. Oligonucleotides corresponding to different parts of the HCV NS3 coding region were ligated into pSUPER, and expressed as small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) after transfection. Results: Fluorescent Activated Cell Staining (FACS), northern blotting, Western blotting, and Real Time-PCR demonstrated that one of these siRNAs was able to ablate HCV RNA by RNAi. Conclusion: RNAi may represent a new approach for the treatment of HCV infection.