Antiviral Activity of Sirna UL42 against Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 in HeLa Cell Culture

RNA interference (RNAi) is a process by which introduced small interfering RNA (siRNA) can cause the specific degradation of mRNA with identical sequences. In this study, we applied siRNAs targeting the UL42 gene of human herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), which encodes a multifunctional polypeptide that is vital for virus DNA replication, binding to DNA, stably associating with the virus DNA polymerase (Pol), and acting to increase the length of DNA chains synthesized by Pol. HeLa cell line was used for HSV 1 infection and SiRNA transfection was done to suppress UL-42 gene in cell culture. The decrease in titer of HSV 1 was observed by rReal Time PCR to detect the drop in HSV 1 DNA synthesis and translation. The inhibition rates of siRNA1 and siRNA2 on HSV-1 plaque formation were reported and Comparing with virus control, siRNA1 and siRNA2 reduced DNA replication HSV-1. The decision whether the decrease in the number of HSV-1 plaques was due to siRNA silencing expression of the UL42 gene, a real-time PCR indicating that UL42-specific siRNAs blocked the expression of the UL42 gene significantly. Comparing with virus control, siRNA1 and siRNA2 reduced the expression of UL42 gene. In this study the synthetic siRNA silenced UL42 mRNA expression effectively and specifically and inhibited HSV-1 replication and also our data offer new possibilities for RNAi as a genetic tool for inhibition of HSV-1 replication.