Inhibition of replication and expression of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type III in cultured cells by exogenous synthetic oligonucleotides complementary to viral RNA.

The possibility of using oligodeoxynucleotides complementary to viral RNA or proviral DNA to inhibit the replication of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type III (HTLV-III) [the etiological agent of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)] in cultured human cells was addressed by studying the association of 32P-labeled oligodeoxynucleotides with mammalian cellular components. The results indicated that exogenous oligodeoxynucleotides at 20 microM became associated with the membrane/cytosol fractions of the cell in amounts approximating 1.5 microM. Oligodeoxynucleotides complementary to a region close to the tRNALys primer binding site on HTLV-III RNA and others complementary to HTLV-III mRNA donor or acceptor splice sites inhibited viral replication (assayed as reverse transcriptase) and gene expression (assayed as virus-encoded proteins p15 and p24) by as much as 95%. Use of control (random) oligodeoxynucleotides suggests that the antiviral effects were specific. Although these results pertain to HTLV-III-infected cells in tissue culture, rather than to AIDS patients, they nevertheless point to a therapeutic potential of the complementary oligodeoxynucleotide ("hybridization competition" or "hybridon") approach in the treatment of patients with AIDS and AIDS-related complex.