Background Transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE) is a highly contagious viral disease of swine, characterized by severe vomiting, diarrhea, and high mortality. Currently, the vaccines for it are only partially effective and no specific drug is available for treatment of TGE virus (TGEV) infection. RNA interference has been confirmed as a new approach for controlling viral infections. In this study, the inhibitory effect of short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) targeting the ORF 7 gene of TGEV on virus replication was examined. Results Four theoretically effective sequences of TGEV ORF 7 gene were designed and selected for construction of shRNA expression plasmids. In the reporter assays, three of four shRNA expression plasmids were able to inhibit significantly the expression of ORF 7 gene and replication of TGEV, as shown by real-time quantitative RT-PCR analysis of viral ORF 7 and N genes and detection of virus titers (TCID 50 /ml). Stable swine testicular (ST) cells expressing the shRNAs were established. Observation of the cytopathic effect and apoptosis, as well as a cell proliferation assay demonstrated that the three shRNAs were capable of protecting ST cells against TGEV destruction, with high specificity and efficiency. Conclusions Our results indicated that plasmid-transcribed shRNAs targeting the ORF 7 gene in the TGEV genome effectively inhibited expression of the viral target gene and viral replication in vitro. These findings provide evidence that the shRNAs have potential therapeutic application for treatment of TGE.
【저자키워드】 RNA interference, short hairpin RNA, transmissible gastroenteritis virus, ORF 7, 【초록키워드】 Treatment, Apoptosis, Genome, Infection, in vitro, diarrhea, virus, viral infections, RNA, Replication, specificity, viral replication, therapeutic, RNA interference, virus replication, viral disease, N gene, TGEV, reporter, expression, Quantitative, Evidence, Cytopathic effect, Coronavirus replication, gastroenteritis, Efficiency, cell proliferation, target gene, virus titer, sequence, inhibitory effect, high mortality, expression plasmids, vomiting, RT-PCR analysis, contagious, TCID, approach, effective, Cell, STABLE, Result, selected, shown, examined, significantly, indicated, assays, inhibit, inhibited, characterized, ORF, demonstrated, expressing, the vaccine, expression plasmid,