Berkhout, Ben

Eekels, Julia

Jeeninga, Rienk E

lannuci, Veronica

Verhasselt, Bruno

English

PubMed

Julia Eekels

Veronica lannuci

Rienk E Jeeninga

Bruno Verhasselt

Ben Berkhout

Crossref

Retrovirology

RNAi strategies to silence HIV-1

Springer - Publisher Connector

ORAL PRESENTATION Open Access
RNAi strategies to silence HIV-1
Julia Eekels1*, Veronica lannuci2, Rienk E Jeeninga1, Bruno Verhasselt2, Ben Berkhout1
From Frontiers of Retrovirology 2011
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 3-5 October 2011
RNAi is a sequence-specific gene silencing mechanism
induced by double-stranded RNA and a promising tool
for the development of a durable gene therapy against
HIV-1. Such RNAi attack usually focuses on targets
within the HIV-1 RNA genome. Despite potent inhibi-
tion, we previously observed the rapid selection of
RNAi-resistant HIV-1 variants with a mutated target
sequence. A number of strategies were tested to prevent
viral escape. Similar to the success of combination ther-
apy with multiple anti-retroviral drugs, one can target
HIV-1 with multiple short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs).
Alternatively, one can design second-generation shRNAs
to target favorite RNAi-resistance mutations in order to
block specific viral escape routes. One could also com-
bine RNAi with regular antiviral drug regimens. Another
strategy involves the use of RNAi against cellular pro-
teins that are involved in HIV-1 replication. The idea is
that viral escape is more difficult in this setting. Many
cellular co-factors have been described in literature, e.g.
based on large RNAi-screens in cell lines. We have
shown that long-term inhibition of HIV-1 replication is
possible with RNAi against cellular co-factors. To iden-
tify relevant co-factors that are not essential for cellular
function, primary cells are to be preferred over T cell
lines. We propose that RNAi against both viral and cel-
lular targets could be used as a new therapeutic
approach in the combat against HIV-1 infection.
Author details
1Laboratory of Experimental Virology, University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef
15, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 2Department of Clinical Chemistry,
Microbiology and Immunology, Ghent University, De Pintelaan 185, 9000
Gent, Belgium.
Published: 3 October 2011
doi:10.1186/1742-4690-8-S2-O34
Cite this article as: Eekels et al.: RNAi strategies to silence HIV-1.
Retrovirology 2011 8(Suppl 2):O34.
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1Laboratory of Experimental Virology, University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef
15, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
Eekels et al. Retrovirology 2011, 8(Suppl 2):O34
http://www.retrovirology.com/content/8/S2/O34
© 2011 Eekels et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


RNAi strategies to silence HIV-1

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