Inducible Bcl-2 gene RNA interference mediated by aptamer-integrated HDV ribozyme switch.
Yuanyuan ZhangJine WangRenjun PeiNa SunMin LiuZhengyan WuRenjun PeiPublished in: Integrative biology : quantitative biosciences from nano to macro (2017)
The regulation of RNA interference (RNAi) could be a powerful method for the study of temporal and dose dependent effects of gene expression. In this study, we designed the hepatitis delta virus (HDV) ribozyme with an embedded theophylline aptamer as the sensor domain and the pri-miRNA of endogenous gene Bcl-2 as the effector domain to engineer an RNAi-regulatory device in MCF-7 cells. The system allowed us to control gene expression by adding theophylline into the culture media in a dose dependent fashion. This is the pioneering application of ribozyme switches to activate RNAi for modulating endogenous genes in mammalian cells. The platform sets the stage for investigations of other endogenous genes that regulate various biological functions such as differentiation, cell division or cell death, and provides a promising interface with other universal RNAi-based decision-making circuits that operate in mammalian cells. It can be used to study more genes associated with cancer and screen for potential drug targets for gene therapy.
Keyphrases
- gene expression
- cell death
- genome wide
- dna methylation
- decision making
- gold nanoparticles
- gene therapy
- induced apoptosis
- high throughput
- emergency department
- copy number
- stem cells
- immune response
- cell therapy
- cell proliferation
- signaling pathway
- dendritic cells
- transcription factor
- sensitive detection
- childhood cancer
- breast cancer cells