Control of HIV-1 replication by RNA interference

Abstract

Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) have been shown to direct sequence-specific inhibition of gene expression in mammalian cells. siRNAs are RNA duplexes of 21–23 nucleotides (nts) with ∼2 nt 3′ overhangs that can induce degradation of their homologous target mRNAs without interferon responses in mammalian cells. The degradation of the target occurs at the post-transcriptional level, meaning a post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) mechanism called as RNA interference (RNAi). RNAi has emerged as an efficient method to inhibit gene expression in mammalian cells with increasingly successful cases of knockdown of many specific genes. Recent works have shown that the use of RNAi could inhibit HIV-1 replication by targeting viral or cellular genes. RNAi can be considered as a gene-specific therapeutic option for controlling HIV-1 replication. However, the control of HIV-1 replication has become complex because of the limited effectiveness of existing anti-HIV-1 agents and the high speed mutation rate of the HIV-1 genome. Careful assessments are required for the potential of RNAi as a gene therapy approach for controlling HIV-1 replication. This review will discuss the status of the science using RNAi for controlling HIV-1 replication and will describe possible problems for therapeutic applications of RNAi-mediated technologies for HIV-1 behind this novel mechanism.