RNA interference for cancer therapy

Abstract

Evolved as a defense mechanism against RNA virus, RNA interference (RNAi) is the phenomenon in which small interfering RNA (siRNA) of 21-23 nucleotides in length silences the target gene by binding to its complementary mRNA and triggering the degradation of target mRNA [1]. It was first found in Caenorhabditis elegans that introduction of foreign small double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) can lead to potent degradation of the complementary mRNA [2]. This finding generated huge interest in the application of siRNA for the biomedical research community. Potent knockdown of the target gene with high sequence specificity makes RNAi a powerful tool to uncover gene functions, understand the effects of selective gene silencing, and explore potential therapeutics for complex diseases [3]. The discovery of RNAi is one of the most dramatic findings over the past decade in the field of molecular biology [4]. As illustrated by the histogram in Fig. 1, the number of publications related to RNAi increased dramatically from 5 in 1998 to over 2000 in 2007. © 2009 Springer-Verlag New York.