%0 Journal Article
%T Pseudomonas exotoxin antisense RNA selectively kills hepatitis B virus infected cells
%A Peter Hafkemeyer
%A Ulrich Brinkmann
%A Elizabeth Brinkmann
%A Ira Pastan
%A Hubert E Blum
%A Thomas F Baumert
%J World Journal of Gastroenterology
%D 2008
%I Baishideng Publishing Group Co. Limited
%X AIM: To present an approach for selectively killing retrovirus-infected cells that combines the toxicity of Pseudomonas exotoxin (PE) and the presence of reverse transcriptase (RT) in infected cells.METHODS: PE antisense toxin RNA has palindromic stem loops at its 5¡¯ and 3¡¯ ends enabling self-primed generation of cDNA in the presence of RT. The RT activity expressed in retrovirus-infected cells converts ¡°antisense-toxin-RNA¡± into a lethal toxin gene exclusively in these cells.RESULTS: Using cotransfection studies with PE-expressing RNAs and ¦Â-gal expressing reporter plasmids, we show that, in HepG2 and HepG2.2.15 hepatoma cells as well as in duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) infected cells, HBV or DHBV-polymerase reverse transcribe a lethal cDNA copy of an antisense toxin RNA, which is composed of sequences complementary to a PE gene and eukaryotic transcription and translation signals.CONCLUSION: This finding may have important implications as a novel therapeutic strategy aimed at the elimination of HBV infection.
%K Gene therapy
%K Pseudomonas exotoxin
%K Retrovirus
%K Reverse transcription
%U http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/full/v14/i18/2810.htm