Inhibitory effect of small interfering RNA specific for a novel candidate target in PB1 gene of influenza A virus

Abstract

Influenza, mainly caused by influenza virus, is becoming one of the major concerns in the world. Limitation in vaccines necessitates the urgent development of new therapeutic options against this virus. In the present study, we designed small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting overlapping gene of PB1 and PB1-F2 gene of the influenza A virus and investigated its effect against influenza A virus infection. A reduction in virus-associated cell apoptosis was observed in A549 cells treated with this siRNA. Furthermore, its antiviral effect was confirmed by different methods. Also, a marked decrease of virus titer in chicken embryos treated with the siRNA was observed. The findings of this work highlight the potential of this shared region to be an additional therapeutic target for the treatment of influenza virus infection.

Keywords::

• Influenza A virus
• small interfering RNA
• PB1
• PB1-F2

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Technology R&D Program of China (2006BAD06A15) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Key project 30599433).

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest.