Marburg virus genomic and messenger RNA (MARV RNA)

Marburg virus (MARV) is a member of the Filoviridae family and the causative agent of Marburg virus disease (MVD), a severe and often fatal viral hemorrhagic fever (WHO, 2021). The MARV genome is a single-stranded, negative-sense RNA molecule that encodes seven structural proteins necessary for viral entry, replication, and assembly (Koehler et al., 2020). During infection, the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase transcribes the genomic RNA into messenger RNAs (mRNAs) for protein synthesis and replicates the genome through a positive-sense antigenome intermediate. As a therapeutic target, MARV genomic and messenger RNA are addressed using sequence-specific technologies such as antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs). These agents, such as AVI-7288 and TKM-Marburg, work by binding to specific viral RNA sequences to trigger degradation or sterically block translation and replication (Warren et al., 2014; Thi et al., 2014). Inhibiting the production of critical viral proteins like the nucleoprotein (NP) or the polymerase (L) effectively halts the viral life cycle and reduces the systemic viral burden. Therapeutic development focusing on MARV RNA must account for the virus's high mutation rate, which can lead to the emergence of escape mutants that evade sequence-specific drugs. Clinical management of MVD remains challenging, and while no specific RNA-targeting drug is currently FDA-approved, several candidates have demonstrated efficacy in non-human primate models.

Other names

MARV RNAMarburg virus genomeMARV mRNAMarburgvirus RNA

Antisense inhibition of translation, RNA interference-mediated degradation, and chain termination during replication.