Coxsackievirus B3 is considered one of the main etiological agents for the pathogenesis of viral heart disease. To date no effective vaccines or specific antiviral treatment modalities are available to prevent or treat these sometimes life-threatening diseases. The discovery of the endogenous RNA interference pathway as an innate defence mechanism conferring intracellular immunity against viral infections has opened exciting possibilities to exploit it therapeutically in the fight against coxsackieviral diseases. The aim of the present thesis was to evaluate the anti-coxsackieviral potential of RNA interference and its limitations systematically in vitro and in vivo and to optimize it for clinical translation concerning efficacy, stability, and strong resistance to viral escape.
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