Pseudomonas exotoxin antisense RNA selectively kills hepatitis B virus infected cells

Fiche publication


Date publication

mai 2008

Auteurs

Membres identifiés du Cancéropôle Est :
Pr BAUMERT Thomas


Tous les auteurs :
Hafkemeyer P, Brinkmann U, Brinkmann E, Pastan I, Blum HE, Baumert TF

Résumé

AIM: To present an approach for selectively killing retrovirus-infected cells that combines the toxicity of Pseudomonas exotoxin (PE) and the presence of reverse transcriptase (RT) in infected cells. METHODS: PE antisense toxin RNA has palindromic stem loops at its 5' and 3' ends enabling self-primed generation of cDNA in the presence of RT. The RT activity expressed in retrovirus-infected cells converts "antisense-toxin-RNA" into a lethal toxin gene exclusively in these cells. RESULTS: Using cotransfection studies with PE-expressing RNAs and P-gal expressing reporter plasmids, we show that, in HepG2 and HepG2.2.15 hepatoma cells as well as in duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) infected cells, HBV or DHBV-polymerase reverse transcribe a lethal cDNA copy of an antisense toxin RNA, which is composed of sequences complementary to a PE gene and eukaryotic transcription and translation signals. CONCLUSION: This finding may have important implications as a novel therapeutic strategy aimed at the elimination of HBV infection. (C) 2008 WJG. All rights reserved.

Référence

World J Gastroenterol. 2008 May 14;14(18):2810-7.