Zhang Yuanyuan, Wang Jine, Cheng Hui, Sun Na, Liu Min, Wu Zhengyan, Pei Renjun
School of Life Science, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China and CAS Key Laboratory of Nano-Bio Interface, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China.
CAS Key Laboratory of Nano-Bio Interface, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China.
Integr Biol (Camb). 2017 Jul 1;9(7):619-626. doi: 10.1039/c7ib00029d. Epub 2017 May 26.
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.
