Kaposi's Sarcoma-associated Herpesvirus Encodes an Ortholog of miR-155

MicroRNAs are small, non-coding RNAs that post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression by binding to 3UTRs of target mRNAs. Kaposis sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), a virus linked to malignancies including primary effusion lymphoma (PEL), encodes 12 miRNA genes, but only a few regulatory targets are known. We found that KSHV-miR-K12-11 shares 100% seed-sequence homology with hsa-miR-155, a miRNA frequently found up-regulated in lymphomas and critically important for B cell development. Based on this seed-sequence homology, we hypothesized that both miRNAs regulate a common set of target genes and as a result, could have similar biological activities.

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Skalsky RL, Samols MA, Plaisance KB, Boss IW, Riva A, Lopez MC, Baker HV, Renne R