Interfering antiviral immunity: application, subversion, hope?
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.
Manjunath
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The CBR Institute for Biomedical Research and Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Kumar
Priti
P
Lee
Sang Kyung
SK
Shankar
Premlata
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D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D034622:RNA Interference; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000235:genetics; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control
D034741:RNA, Small Interfering