Host: The Japan Radiation Research Society
RNA interference (RNAi) has rapidly become a powerful tool for drug target discovery and validation in an in vitro culture system and, consequently, interest is rapidly growing for extension of its application to in vivo systems, such as animal disease models and human therapeutics. Cancer is an obvious application for RNAi therapeutics because abnormal gene expression is thought to contribute to the pathogenesis and maintenance of the malignant phenotype of cancer and thereby many oncogenes and cell-signaling molecules present enticing drug target possibilities. RNAi, potent and specific, can silence tumor-related genes and would appear to be a rational approach to inhibit tumor growth. In this presentation, we provide an overview of the emerging in vivo application of non-viral delivery systems for siRNA and miRNA, which in turn will provide a foundation for further development of RNAi therapeutics against cancer.
