FIGURE 5. Intravenous treatment with antiviral siRNA/RVG-9R complex protects mice against JEV encephalitis.

a, JEV-infected mice were treated intravenously with siLuc or siFvE^J complexed to either RVG-9R or RV-MAT-9R daily for 4 days and monitored for survival. Grey triangles, mock (no siRNA); black triangles, RVG-9R plus siLuc; circles, RV-MAT-9R plus siFvE^J; stars, RVG-9R plus siFvE^J. n = 9. b, RNA isolated from the brains of RVG-9R/siFvE^J-treated mice were probed with siFvE^J sense strand to examine for the presence of siRNA antisense strand by northern blotting. Antisense strand of siFvE^J served as a positive control (first lane). c, Balb/c mice were injected intravenously with siFvE^J bound to RVG-9R peptide, and 7 h later their serum samples were tested for IFN- levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The immunostimulatory gal 728 siRNA complexed with RVG-9R or Lipofectamine was used as a positive control. Error bars indicate s.d.