Hepatitis C, caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV), is a life-threatening disease affecting about 170 million people worldwide. The HCV genome is composed of a large open reading frame flanked by conserved 5' and 3' UTRs. The conserved 5' UTR of HCV forms the internal ribosome entry site, which directs viral protein translation. Domain III in the 5' UTR, specifically segment IIId containing the sequence GGG, is critical in anchoring the 40S ribosomal subunit for translation. A ?-modified peptide nucleic acid molecule (PNA) has been engineered to target the IIId domain to potentially inhibit recruitment of the 40S ribosomal subunit and thus the viral translation. Different biochemical and biophysical methods were used to characterize binding of the PNA to the IIId region and to analyze its effect upon HCV translation.

γ-Modified peptide nucleic acid targeting the internal ribosome entry site of the hepatitis C viral RNA genome

245th National Meeting (2013)

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