SiRNA Design to Silence the 3'UTR Region of Zika Virus.

María Perez-Mendez,Fernando Bastida-González,Juan Salas-Benito,Paola Zárate-Segura

doi:10.1155/2020/6759346

María Perez-Mendez, Fernando Bastida-González + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/6759346

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Abstract

The disease caused by the Zika virus (ZIKV) has positioned itself as one of the main public health problems in Mexico. One of the main reasons is it causes microcephaly and other birth defects. The transmission of ZIKV is through Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus mosquitoes, which are found in a larger space of the national territory. In addition, it can also be transmitted via blood transfusion, sexual relations, and maternal-fetal route. So far, there are no vaccines or specific treatments to deal with this infection. Currently, some new therapeutics such as small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are able to regulate or suppress transcription in viruses. Therefore, in this project, an in silico siRNA was designed for the 3′UTR region of ZIKV via bioinformatics tools. The designed siRNA was synthesized and transfected into the C6/36 cell line, previously infected with ZIKV in order to assess the ability of the siRNA to inhibit viral replication. The designed siRNA was able to inhibit significantly (p < 0.05) ZIKV replication; this siRNA could be considered a potential therapeutic towards the disease that causes ZIKV and the medical problems generated.

Highlights

In 1947 in the Zika Forest, Uganda, Zika virus was isolated for the first time
The virus spread throughout the continent, arriving to Mexico in 2015, so far there are 12,936 confirmed cases of Zika virus (ZIKV) from 2015 to epidemiological week 5 of 2020, which 7,135 cases correspond to pregnant women, 54 confirmed cases of congenital syndrome associated with ZIKV, 10 deaths; and 34 confirmed cases of GuillainBarre syndrome associated with ZIKV [3]
ZIKV is structured by a polyprotein that encodes 3 structural proteins: capsid (C), membrane precursor, and envelope (E), in addition to 7 nonstructural proteins (NS1, NS2A, NS2B, NS3, NS4A, NS4B, and NS5) flanked by two untranslated regions (UTR): 5′UTR and 3′UTR, emphasizing the 3′UTR region plays an important role in the viral genome replication and pathogenic processes [4]

Summary

Introduction

The spread of ZIKV was not evident until late 2015 and early 2015 when it arrived to the Americas, to Brazil [1, 2]. The virus spread throughout the continent, arriving to Mexico in 2015, so far there are 12,936 confirmed cases of ZIKV from 2015 to epidemiological week 5 of 2020, which 7,135 cases correspond to pregnant women, 54 confirmed cases of congenital syndrome associated with ZIKV, 10 deaths; and 34 confirmed cases of GuillainBarre syndrome associated with ZIKV [3]. Progress has been made in the deliberation of siRNA as therapeutic agents to combat different diseases as well as viruses [7]. A siRNA targeting the 3′UTR region of ZIKV was designed to reduce or inhibit viral replication and cytopathic effect of the virus. It has been shown that siRNAs can perform specific gene silencing of functional sequences

Materials and Methods

Results and Discussion

Conclusion