Authors : Li-Jun Chen, Yin-Guang Li, Ming-Qiu Zhao, Yan-Fang Xu, Jun-Tao Jia, Ying-Ran Lv, Chun-Mei Ju and Jin-Ding Chen
Abstract: Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus (FMDV) is a highly contagious vesicular disease affecting >33 species of cloven-hoofed animals. Because of the limited effectiveness of existing antiviral approaches including vaccines and antiviral drugs, new strategies for controlling FMD outbreak are needed. RNA interference (RNAi) is considered to be one of the powerful emerging approaches to inhibit virus replication in mammalian cells. In this study, two short-hairpin RNA (shRNAs) expressing vectors (pShuttle-shRNA-L and pShuttle-shRNA-3D) targeting to the L and 3D non-structural protein coding regions of FMDV were employed to evaluate their antiviral ability in Baby Hamster Kidney cells (BHK-21). Results demonstrated that transfection of shRNA-expressing plasmids gave a significant weakened Cytopathic Effect (CPE) as well as a manifest decreased viral tilters and amount of FMDV mRNA copy numbers compared with the control cells post challenge of O/HK/2001. In this study, the data indicates that RNAi may be a potential therapeutic approach to limit the spread of FMDV in livestock.
Li-Jun Chen, Yin-Guang Li, Ming-Qiu Zhao, Yan-Fang Xu, Jun-Tao Jia, Ying-Ran Lv, Chun-Mei Ju and Jin-Ding Chen, 2011. Short Hairpin RNA Targeted to the Highly Conserved Regions of L and 3D Gene Inhibits Replication of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus in vitro. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 10: 2806-2813.