Chinese scientists have developed a new therapeutic approach that uses artificial microRNAs to prevent dengue virus from reproducing in humans by targeting and silencing key regions of its genome essential for viral replication.
Researchers from Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine and Second Artillery General Hospital, Beijing, and Central South University, Changsha, China, identified multiple regions in the dengue virus genome that have maintained the same nucleic sequence over long periods of evolution.
These highly conserved regions are ideal targets for antiviral drug development as they are unlikely to mutate and allow the virus to develop drug resistance.
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The authors in the journal Nucleic Acid Therapeutics described how they constructed artificial short strands of nucleic acids called microRNAs that specifically target these conserved sites in the dengue virus genome.
Their experiments led to the identification of the most effective combinations of microRNAs capable of inhibiting the virus from replication in humans.
Mosquito-borne dengue viruses cause an estimated 50 million cases of human dengue fever a year and are a significant public health threat worldwide.
