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Inhibition of dengue virus infection by small interfering RNAs that target highly conserved sequences in the NS4B or NS5 coding regions

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Abstract

Dengue fever is one of the most common viral infections in the world. Although a vaccine against dengue virus (DENV) has been approved in several countries, this disease is still considered a public health priority worldwide. The ability of three small interfering RNAs (FG-siRNAs) targeting conserved sequences in the NS4B and NS5 regions of the DENV genome to inhibit DENV replication was tested in vitro in both Vero and C6/36 cells. The FG-siRNAs were effective against DENV-1, -3, and -4, but not DENV-2. A fourth siRNA specifically targeting the NS5 region of the DENV-2 genome (SG-siRNA) was designed and tested against two different DENV-2 strains, showing high levels of inhibition in both mammalian and insect cells.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Juan Salas (ENMH-IPN) for kindly donating DENV-1, 2, 3 and 4 reference strains, Dr. Maria Isabel Salazar (ENCB-IPN) for providing the DENV-2 Yucatan 17438 strain, and Dr. Alfonso Méndez Tenorio (ENCB-IPN) for his support in the thermodynamic analyses.

Funding

This project was supported by Secretaría de Investigación y Posgrado del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (20160619). VPM has a fellowship from CONACyT, Mexico.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Virología, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Carpio y Plan de Ayala S/N, 11340, Mexico City, Mexico

    Paula M. Villegas, Elizabeth Ortega, Blanca L. Barrón & Jesus Torres-Flores

  2. Laboratorio de Genética Microbiana, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Carpio y Plan de Ayala S/N, 11340, Mexico City, Mexico

    Lourdes Villa-Tanaca

Authors
  1. Paula M. Villegas
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  2. Elizabeth Ortega
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  3. Lourdes Villa-Tanaca
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  4. Blanca L. Barrón
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  5. Jesus Torres-Flores
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jesus Torres-Flores.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Handling Editor: Tim Skern.

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Villegas, P.M., Ortega, E., Villa-Tanaca, L. et al. Inhibition of dengue virus infection by small interfering RNAs that target highly conserved sequences in the NS4B or NS5 coding regions. Arch Virol 163, 1331–1335 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-018-3757-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-018-3757-2

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