Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21172023›Full record

ArticleVirology journal2010

An RNAi in silico approach to find an optimal shRNA cocktail against HIV-1.

María C Méndez-Ortega, Silvia Restrepo, Luis M Rodríguez-R, Iván Pérez, Juan C Mendoza, Andrés P Martínez, Roberto Sierra, Gloria J Rey-Benito

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Virology journal, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
0.4field-weighted citation impact, top 36% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

María C Méndez-OrtegaGrupo de Virología SRNL, Instituto Nacional de Salud, Avenida Calle 26 No, 51 - 20 ZONA 6 CAN, Bogotá, Colombia. catalina.mendez@gmail.com
Silvia Restrepo
Luis M Rodríguez-R
Iván Pérez
Juan C Mendoza
Andrés P Martínez
Roberto Sierra
Gloria J Rey-Benito
Instituto Nacional de Salud · COUniversidad de Los Andes · CO

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundHIV-1 can be inhibited by RNA interference in vitro through the expression of short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) that target conserved genome sequences. In silico shRNA design for HIV has lacked a detailed study of virus variability constituting a possible breaking point in a clinical setting. We designed shRNAs against HIV-1 considering the variability observed in naïve and drug-resistant isolates available at public databases.

methodsA Bioperl-based algorithm was developed to automatically scan multiple sequence alignments of HIV, while evaluating the possibility of identifying dominant and subdominant viral variants that could be used as efficient silencing molecules. Student t-test and Bonferroni Dunn correction test were used to assess statistical significance of our findings.

resultsOur in silico approach identified the most common viral variants within highly conserved genome regions, with a calculated free energy of ≥ -6.6 kcal/mol. This is crucial for strand loading to RISC complex and for a predicted silencing efficiency score, which could be used in combination for achieving over 90% silencing. Resistant and naïve isolate variability revealed that the most frequent shRNA per region targets a maximum of 85% of viral sequences. Adding more divergent sequences maintained this percentage. Specific sequence features that have been found to be related with higher silencing efficiency were hardly accomplished in conserved regions, even when lower entropy values correlated with better scores. We identified a conserved region among most HIV-1 genomes, which meets as many sequence features for efficient silencing.

conclusionsHIV-1 variability is an obstacle to achieving absolute silencing using shRNAs designed against a consensus sequence, mainly because there are many functional viral variants. Our shRNA cocktail could be truly effective at silencing dominant and subdominant naïve viral variants. Additionally, resistant isolates might be targeted under specific antiretroviral selective pressure, but in both cases these should be tested exhaustively prior to clinical use.

Indexed as

RNA InterferenceComputational BiologyConserved SequenceDrug Resistance, ViralGenetic VariationHIV-1HIV InfectionsHumansModels, MolecularMutationProtein Structure, TertiaryRNA, Small InterferingRNA, Small Interfering

Identifiers

PMID21172023
PMCPMC3022682
OpenAlexW2129888723

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.