title: Interfering antiviral immunity: application, subversion, hope?
abstract: RNA interference (RNAi), initially recognized as a natural antiviral mechanism in plants, has rapidly emerged as an invaluable tool to suppress gene expression in a sequence-specific manner in all organisms, including mammals. Its potential to inhibit the replication of a variety of viruses has been demonstrated in vitro and in vivo in mouse and monkey models. These results have generated profound interest in the use of this technology as a potential treatment strategy for viral infections for which vaccines and drugs are unavailable or inadequate. In this review, we discuss the progress made within the past 2-3 years towards harnessing the potential of RNAi for clinical application in viral infections and the hurdles that have yet to be overcome.
authors.affiliation: The CBR Institute for Biomedical Research and Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Manjunath
authors.forename: Priti
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Sang Kyung
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Premlata
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Shankar
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D034622:RNA Interference; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000235:genetics; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control
chemical_list: D034741:RNA, Small Interfering