Further evidence that ribavirin interacts with eIF4E

  1. ALEX KENTSIS1,
  2. LAURENT VOLPON2,
  3. IVAN TOPISIROVIC2,
  4. CLIFFORD E. SOLL3,
  5. BILJANA CULJKOVIC2,
  6. LING SHAO1, and
  7. KATHERINE L.B. BORDEN2
  1. 1Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York University, New York, New York 10029, USA
  2. 2Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada
  3. 3Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, New York 10021, USA

Abstract

This commentary discusses the recent reports in RNA by Yan and colleagues and Westman and colleagues of the apparent failure of ribavirin to bind to recombinant eIF4E and inhibit 7-methyl guanosine cap-dependent exogenous mRNA translation of cell extracts in vitro. Measuring binding by using affinity chromatography of matrix-immobilized proteins and by using protein emission fluorescence spectroscopy in the presence of nucleotide ligands, as well as limitations of using cell extracts for the assessment of mechanisms of mRNA translation are discussed. Possible reasons for the discordant findings of Yan and colleagues and Westman and colleagues are suggested, and direct observation of the specific binding of ribavirin to eIF4E by using mass spectrometry is presented.

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  1. Published in Advance October 26, 2005, doi: 10.1261/rna.2238705 RNA 11: 1762-1766 Copyright 2005 by RNA Society

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