Oncolytic Activity of Targeted Picornaviruses Formulated as Synthetic Infectious RNA.

ABSTRACT: Infectious nucleic acid has been proposed as a superior formulation for oncolytic virus therapy. Oncolytic picornaviruses can be formulated as infectious RNA (iRNA), and their unwanted tropisms eliminated by microRNA (miRNA) detargeting. However, genomic insertion of miRNA target sequences into coxsackievirus A21 (CVA21) iRNA compromised its specific infectivity, negating further development as a novel oncolytic virus formulation. To address this limitation, we substituted a muscle-specific miRNA response element for the spacer region downstream of the internal ribosomal entry site in the 5' non-coding region of CVA21 iRNA, thereby preserving genome length while avoiding the disruption of known surrounding RNA structural elements. This new iRNA (R-CVA21) retained high specific infectivity,

SUBMITTER: Elsedawy NB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7276391 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature