Inhibition of human cytomegalovirus major immediate early gene expression by antisense RNA expression vectors

Abstract

We have used antisense oligonucleotides and expression vectors to inhibit human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) major immediate early (IE) gene expression. We find that oligonucleotides complementary to the HCMV 72K IE protein (IE1) coding region do inhibit HCMV infection, but this is non-specific. However, the use of certain antisense expression vectors, which express short oligonucleotides complementary to IE1, specifically inhibits IE1 expression at the protein level after introduction of IE expression vectors into cells or after HCMV infection.