Inhibition of SNAP25 expression by HIV-1 Tat involves the activity of mir-128a

Micro RNAs (milks) are short endogenous RNAs that regulate gene expression by incomplete pairing with messenger RNAs. An increasing number of studies show that mammalian micro RNAs play fundamental roles in various aspects of cellular function including differentiation, proliferation, and cell death. Recent findings demonstrating the presence of microRNAs in mature neuronal dendrites suggest their possible involvement in controlling legal protein translation and synaptic function. HIV-1 Encephalopathy (HIVE) is a manifestation of HIV-1 infection that often results national damage and dysfunction. While neurons are rarely, if ever, infected by HIV- 1, they are exposed to cytotoxic viral and cellular factors including the HIV-1 transactivating factor Tat. In this study, we show that Tat deregulates expression levels of selected microRNAs, including the neuronal mir-128, in primary cortical neurons. We further show that mir-128a inhibits expression of the pre-synaptic protein SNAP25, whereas the anti-mir-128a partially restores Tat/mir-128a-induced downregulation of SNAP25 expression. Altogether, our data provide a novel mechanism by which HIV-Tat perturbs neuronal activity.