Inhibition of Hepatitis C Virus Subgenomic Replication Cycle by Constitutive Transport Element Linked Ribozymes Targeting Highly Conserved 5' and 3' Untranslated Regions

Background/Aims: The infection with Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) can lead to the development of chronic liver disease with limited therapeutic options in a significant proportion of patients. Hairpin ribozymes (Rz) are small RNA molecules with endonuclease activity that can be engineered to specifically cleave RNA sequences. However, activity depends on Rz expression, target colocalization and cleavage site accessibility. CTE, an RNA motif has previously shown to interact with intracellular RNA helicases and might enhance cleavage activity by enhancement of RNA binding and unwinding activities of RNA helicase. CTE ha…