Volume 15, No 11, Nov 2005
ISSN: 1001-0602
EISSN: 1748-7838 2018
impact factor 17.848*
(Clarivate Analytics, 2019)
Volume 15 Issue 11, November 2005: 935-946
REVIEWS
siRNA, miRNA and HIV: promises and challenges
Man Lung YEUNG1, Yamina BENNASSER1, Shu Yun LE2 and Kuan Teh JEANG1
1Molecular Virology Section, Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health Bethesda, Maryland 20892-0460, USA
2Center for Cancer Research Nanobiology Program NCI Center for Cancer Research, NCI, National Institutes of Health, Fredrick, MD 21702, USA
Correspondence: Kuan Teh JEANG(kj7e@nih.gov)
Small interfering RNA (siRNA) and microRNA (miRNA) are small RNAs of 18-25 nucleotides (nt) in length that play important roles in regulating gene expression. They are incorporated into an RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) and serve as guides for silencing their corresponding target mRNAs based on complementary base-pairing. The promise of gene silencing has led many researchers to consider siRNA as an anti-viral tool. However, in long-term settings, many viruses appear to escape from this therapeutical strategy. An example of this may be seen in the case of human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) which is able to evade RNA silencing by either mutating the siRNA-targeted sequence or by encoding for a partial suppressor of RNAi (RNA interference). On the other hand, because miRNA targeting does not require absolute complementarity of base-pairing, mutational escape by viruses from miRNA-specified silencing may be more difficult to achieve. In this review, we discuss stratagems used by various viruses to avoid the cells' antiviral si/mi-RNA defenses and notions of how viruses might control and regulate host cell genes by encoding viral miRNAs (vmiRNAs).
Cell Research (2005) 15, 935–946. doi:10.1038/sj.cr.7290371
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