Peptide-Conjugated Phosphorodiamidate Morpholino Oligomers for In Situ Live-Cell Molecular Imaging of Dengue Virus Replication

Autor: Carla Bianca Luena Victorio, Wisna Novera, Jing Yang Tham, Satoru Watanabe, Subhash G. Vasudevan, Ann-Marie Chacko
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Zdroj: International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Vol 21, Iss 23, p 9260 (2020)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1422-0067
1661-6596
DOI: 10.3390/ijms21239260
Popis: Current methods to detect and monitor pathogens in biological systems are largely limited by the tradeoffs between spatial context and temporal detail. A new generation of molecular tracking that provides both information simultaneously involves in situ detection coupled with non-invasive imaging. An example is antisense imaging that uses antisense oligonucleotide probes complementary to a target nucleotide sequence. In this study, we explored the potential of repurposing antisense oligonucleotides initially developed as antiviral therapeutics as molecular probes for imaging of viral infections in vitro and in vivo. We employed nuclease-resistant phosphorodiamidate synthetic oligonucleotides conjugated with cell-penetrating peptides (i.e., PPMOs) previously established as antivirals for dengue virus serotype-2 (DENV2). As proof of concept, and before further development for preclinical testing, we evaluated its validity as in situ molecular imaging probe for tracking cellular DENV2 infection using live-cell fluorescence imaging. Although the PPMO was designed to specifically target the DENV2 genome, it was unsuitable as in situ molecular imaging probe. This study details our evaluation of the PPMOs to assess specific and sensitive molecular imaging of DENV2 infection and tells a cautionary tale for those exploring antisense oligonucleotides as probes for non-invasive imaging and monitoring of pathogen infections in experimental animal models.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals
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