Ribozyme mediated cleavage of acute phase serum amyloid A (A-SAA) mRNA in vitro

• Published in: FEBS letters Vol. 374; no. 2; pp. 241 - 245
• Main Authors: Gaughan, Derval J., Steel, Diana M., Whitehead, Alexander S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier B.V 30.10.1995
• Subjects: A-SAA; Acute phase response; Acute-Phase Proteins - genetics; Acute-Phase Proteins - metabolism; acute-phase serum amyloid A; Base Sequence; Binding Sites; DNA Primers; Hammerhead ribozyme; HDL; high density lipoprotein; Inflammation; Molecular Sequence Data; Nucleic Acid Conformation; RNA, Catalytic - chemistry; RNA, Catalytic - metabolism; RNA, Messenger - chemistry; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; SAA; Serum amyloid A; Serum Amyloid A Protein - genetics; Substrate Specificity; Serum amyloid A; HDL; SAA; Hammerhead ribozyme; Acute phase response; Inflammation; A-SAA
• ISSN: 0014-5793; 1873-3468
• DOI: 10.1016/0014-5793(95)01118-X

The 1000-fold induction of acute phase serum amyloid A (A-SAA) in the liver during inflammation indicates that this protein plays an important, though ill-defined, role in host defence. Paradoxically, prolonged overproduction of A-SAA is a causative factor in secondary amyloidosis and possibly other diseases such as atherosclerosis; the ability to down-regulate A-SAA synthesis is therefore of considerable clinical importance. We have successfully generated anti-SAA hammerhead ribozymes and we report that they are capable of cleaving A-SAA mRNA in vitro.