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Bie Y, Zhang J, Chen J, Zhang Y, Huang M, Zhang L, Zhou X, Qiu Y. Design of antiviral AGO2-dependent short hairpin RNAs. Virol Sin 2024:S1995-820X(24)00069-5. [PMID: 38734183 DOI: 10.1016/j.virs.2024.05.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2024] [Accepted: 05/06/2024] [Indexed: 05/13/2024] Open
Abstract
The increasing emergence and re-emergence of RNA virus outbreaks underlines the urgent need to develop effective antivirals. RNA interference (RNAi) is a sequence-specific gene silencing mechanism that is triggered by small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) or short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs), which exhibits significant promise for antiviral therapy. AGO2-dependent shRNA (agshRNA) generates a single-stranded guide RNA and presents significant advantages over traditional siRNA and shRNA. In this study, we applied a logistic regression algorithm to a previously published chemically siRNA efficacy dataset and built a machine learning-based model with high predictive power. Using this model, we designed siRNA sequences targeting diverse RNA viruses, including human enterovirus A71 (EV71), Zika virus (ZIKV), dengue virus 2 (DENV2), mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and transformed them into agshRNAs. We validated the performance of our agshRNA design by evaluating antiviral efficacies of agshRNAs in cells infected with different viruses. Using the agshRNA targeting EV71 as an example, we showed that the anti-EV71 effect of agshRNA was more potent compared with the corresponding siRNA and shRNA. Moreover, the antiviral effect of agshRNA is dependent on AGO2-processed guide RNA, which can load into the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). We also confirmed the antiviral effect of agshRNA in vivo. Together, this work develops a novel antiviral strategy that combines machine learning-based algorithm with agshRNA design to custom design antiviral agshRNAs with high efficiency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuanyuan Bie
- Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Jieling Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China
| | - Jiyao Chen
- Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
| | - Yumin Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
| | - Muhan Huang
- Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
| | - Leike Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Xi Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China.
| | - Yang Qiu
- Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China.
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Nedorezova DD, Dubovichenko MV, Belyaeva EP, Grigorieva ED, Peresadina AV, Kolpashchikov DM. Specificity of oligonucleotide gene therapy (OGT) agents. Theranostics 2022; 12:7132-7157. [PMID: 36276652 PMCID: PMC9576606 DOI: 10.7150/thno.77830] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2022] [Accepted: 09/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Oligonucleotide gene therapy (OGT) agents (e. g. antisense, deoxyribozymes, siRNA and CRISPR/Cas) are promising therapeutic tools. Despite extensive efforts, only few OGT drugs have been approved for clinical use. Besides the problem of efficient delivery to targeted cells, hybridization specificity is a potential limitation of OGT agents. To ensure tight binding, a typical OGT agent hybridizes to the stretch of 15-25 nucleotides of a unique targeted sequence. However, hybrids of such lengths tolerate one or more mismatches under physiological conditions, the problem known as the affinity/specificity dilemma. Here, we assess the scale of this problem by analyzing OGT hybridization-dependent off-target effects (HD OTE) in vitro, in animal models and clinical studies. All OGT agents except deoxyribozymes exhibit HD OTE in vitro, with most thorough evidence of poor specificity reported for siRNA and CRISPR/Cas9. Notably, siRNA suppress non-targeted genes due to (1) the partial complementarity to mRNA 3'-untranslated regions (3'-UTR), and (2) the antisense activity of the sense strand. CRISPR/Cas9 system can cause hundreds of non-intended dsDNA breaks due to low specificity of the guide RNA, which can limit therapeutic applications of CRISPR/Cas9 by ex-vivo formats. Contribution of this effects to the observed in vivo toxicity of OGT agents is unclear and requires further investigation. Locked or peptide nucleic acids improve OGT nuclease resistance but not specificity. Approaches that use RNA marker dependent (conditional) activation of OGT agents may improve specificity but require additional validation in cell culture and in vivo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daria D. Nedorezova
- Laboratory of Molecular Robotics and Biosensor Materials, International Institute SCAMT, ITMO University, 9 Lomonosov Str., St. Petersburg, 191002, Russian Federation
| | - Mikhail V. Dubovichenko
- Laboratory of Molecular Robotics and Biosensor Materials, International Institute SCAMT, ITMO University, 9 Lomonosov Str., St. Petersburg, 191002, Russian Federation
| | - Ekaterina P. Belyaeva
- Laboratory of Molecular Robotics and Biosensor Materials, International Institute SCAMT, ITMO University, 9 Lomonosov Str., St. Petersburg, 191002, Russian Federation
| | - Ekaterina D. Grigorieva
- Laboratory of Molecular Robotics and Biosensor Materials, International Institute SCAMT, ITMO University, 9 Lomonosov Str., St. Petersburg, 191002, Russian Federation
| | - Arina V. Peresadina
- Laboratory of Molecular Robotics and Biosensor Materials, International Institute SCAMT, ITMO University, 9 Lomonosov Str., St. Petersburg, 191002, Russian Federation
| | - Dmitry M. Kolpashchikov
- Laboratory of Molecular Robotics and Biosensor Materials, International Institute SCAMT, ITMO University, 9 Lomonosov Str., St. Petersburg, 191002, Russian Federation
- Chemistry Department, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816-2366, USA
- Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA
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Goguen RP, Gatignol A, Scarborough RJ. Cloning and Detection of Aptamer-Ribozyme Conjugations. Methods Mol Biol 2021; 2167:253-267. [PMID: 32712924 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0716-9_14] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
RNA aptamers can be used to target proteins or nucleic acids for therapeutic purposes and are candidates for RNA-mediated gene therapy. Like other small therapeutic RNAs, they can be expressed in cells from DNA templates that include a cellular promoter upstream of the RNA coding sequence. Secondary structures flanking aptamers can be used to enhance the activity or stability of these molecules. Notably, flanking self-cleaving ribozymes to remove extraneous nucleotides included during transcription as well as flanking hairpins to improve RNA stability have been used to increase the effect of therapeutic aptamers. Here we describe the cloning procedure of aptamers containing different flanking secondary structures and methods to compare their expression levels by a northern blot protocol optimized for the detection of small RNA molecules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryan P Goguen
- Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Montréal, QC, Canada.,Department of Microbiology and Immunology, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Anne Gatignol
- Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Montréal, QC, Canada. .,Department of Microbiology and Immunology, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada. .,Department of Medicine, Division of Experimental Medicine, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
| | - Robert J Scarborough
- Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Montréal, QC, Canada. .,Department of Microbiology and Immunology, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
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Berkhout B, Herrera-Carrillo E. Design and Evaluation of AgoshRNAs with 3'-Terminal HDV Ribozymes to Enhance the Silencing Activity. Methods Mol Biol 2021; 2167:225-252. [PMID: 32712923 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0716-9_13] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Since the first application of RNA interference (RNAi) in mammalian cells, the expression of short hairpin RNA (shRNA) molecules for targeted gene silencing has become a benchmark technology. Plasmid and viral vector systems can be used to express shRNA precursor transcripts that are processed by the cellular RNAi pathway to trigger sequence-specific gene knockdown. Intensive RNAi investigations documented that only a small percentage of computationally predicted target sequences can be used for efficient gene silencing, in part because not all shRNA designs are active. Many factors influence the shRNA activity and guidelines for optimal shRNA design have been proposed. We recently described an alternatively processed shRNA molecule termed AgoshRNA with a ~18 base pairs (bp) stem and a 3-5 nucleotides (nt) loop. This molecule is alternatively processed by the Argonaute (Ago) protein into a single guide RNA strand that efficiently induces the RNAi mechanism. The design rules proposed for regular shRNAs do not apply to AgoshRNA molecules and therefore new rules had to be defined. We optimized the AgoshRNA design and managed to create a set of active AgoshRNAs targeted against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In an attempt to enhance the silencing activity of the AgoshRNA molecules, we included the hepatitis delta virus (HDV) ribozyme at the 3' terminus, which generates a uniform 3' end instead of a 3' U-tail of variable length. We evaluated the impact of this 3'-end modification on AgoshRNA processing and its gene silencing activity and we demonstrate that this novel AgoshRNA-HDV design exhibits enhanced antiviral activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ben Berkhout
- Laboratory of Experimental Virology, Department of Medical Microbiology, Amsterdam UMC, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
| | - Elena Herrera-Carrillo
- Laboratory of Experimental Virology, Department of Medical Microbiology, Amsterdam UMC, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
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Hentzschel F, Mitesser V, Fraschka SAK, Krzikalla D, Carrillo EH, Berkhout B, Bártfai R, Mueller AK, Grimm D. Gene knockdown in malaria parasites via non-canonical RNAi. Nucleic Acids Res 2020; 48:e2. [PMID: 31680162 PMCID: PMC7145648 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkz927] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2019] [Revised: 10/01/2019] [Accepted: 10/07/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The lack of endogenous RNAi machinery in the malaria parasite Plasmodium hampers gene annotation and hence antimalarial drug and vaccine development. Here, we engineered rodent Plasmodium berghei to express a minimal, non-canonical RNAi machinery that solely requires Argonaute 2 (Ago2) and a modified short hairpin RNA, so-called AgoshRNA. Using this strategy, we achieved robust and specific gene knockdown throughout the entire parasite life cycle. We also successfully silenced the endogenous gene perforin-like protein 2, phenocopying a full gene knockout. Transcriptionally restricting Ago2 expression to the liver stage further enabled us to perform a stage-specific gene knockout. The RNAi-competent Plasmodium lines reported here will be a valuable resource for loss-of-function phenotyping of the many uncharacterized genes of Plasmodium in low or high throughput, without the need to engineer the target gene locus. Thereby, our new strategy and transgenic Plasmodium lines will ultimately benefit the discovery of urgently needed antimalarial drug and vaccine candidates. Generally, the ability to render RNAi-negative organisms RNAi-competent by mere introduction of two components, Ago2 and AgoshRNA, is a unique paradigm that should find broad applicability in other species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Franziska Hentzschel
- Heidelberg University Hospital, Center for Infectious Diseases / Parasitology, Im Neuenheimer Feld 324, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.,Heidelberg University Hospital, Center for Infectious Diseases / Virology, Im Neuenheimer Feld 267, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.,BioQuant Center, Heidelberg University, Im Neuenheimer Feld 267, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Vera Mitesser
- Heidelberg University Hospital, Center for Infectious Diseases / Parasitology, Im Neuenheimer Feld 324, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.,Heidelberg University Hospital, Center for Infectious Diseases / Virology, Im Neuenheimer Feld 267, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.,BioQuant Center, Heidelberg University, Im Neuenheimer Feld 267, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
| | | | - Daria Krzikalla
- Heidelberg University Hospital, Center for Infectious Diseases / Parasitology, Im Neuenheimer Feld 324, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.,Heidelberg University Hospital, Center for Infectious Diseases / Virology, Im Neuenheimer Feld 267, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.,BioQuant Center, Heidelberg University, Im Neuenheimer Feld 267, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Elena Herrera Carrillo
- Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Department of Medical Microbiology, Meibergdreef 15, K3-110, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Ben Berkhout
- Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Department of Medical Microbiology, Meibergdreef 15, K3-110, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Richárd Bártfai
- Radboud University, Dept. of Molecular Biology, Geert Grooteplein 28, 6525 GA Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Ann-Kristin Mueller
- Heidelberg University Hospital, Center for Infectious Diseases / Parasitology, Im Neuenheimer Feld 324, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.,German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), partner site Heidelberg
| | - Dirk Grimm
- Heidelberg University Hospital, Center for Infectious Diseases / Virology, Im Neuenheimer Feld 267, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.,BioQuant Center, Heidelberg University, Im Neuenheimer Feld 267, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.,German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), partner site Heidelberg.,German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), partner site Heidelberg
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