Neutralization of infectivity of porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) by capsid-binding 2′F-RNA aptamers

Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) is the main causative agent of porcine circovirus-associated diseases (PCVD), which is responsible for economic losses in the swine industry. The capsid protein of PCV2 has important role for virus neutralization that blocks viral infection. To develop the therapeutic agents, two 2′F-RNA aptamers that bound to the PCV2 capsid protein with nanomole affinity were isolated from a 2′F-RNA library by the Systematic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential enrichment (SELEX). The binding affinity of aptamers was analyzed by Electrophoretic Mobility shift assay (EMSA) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) analysis. The RNA aptamers have been shown to exhibit high affinity and specificity to PCV2 capsid protein and to neutralize PCV2 infectivity in PK-15 cells in dose dependent manner.Neutralizing aptamers such as this could be promising candidates in developing efficacious anti-PCV2 drugs as well as therapeutic delivery reagent.