Hara Kang, Yun Ji Ga, Soo Hyun Kim, Young Hoon Cho, Jung Won Kim, Chaeyeon Kim, Jung-Yong Yeh
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
RNA has emerged as a revolutionary and important tool in the battle against emerging infectious diseases, with roles extending beyond its applications in vaccines, in which it is used in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since their development in the 1990s, RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics have demonstrated potential in reducing the expression of disease-associated genes. Nucleic acid-based therapeutics, including RNAi therapies, that degrade viral genomes and rapidly adapt to viral mutations, have emerged as alternative treatments. RNAi is a robust technique frequently employed to selectively suppress gene expression in a sequence-specific manner. The swift adaptability of nucleic acid-based therapeutics such as RNAi therapies endows them with a significant advantage over other antiviral medications. For example, small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are produced on the basis of sequence complementarity to target and degrade viral RNA, a novel approach to combat viral infections. The precision of siRNAs in targeting and degrading viral RNA has led to the development of siRNA-based treatments for diverse diseases. However, despite the promising therapeutic benefits of siRNAs, several problems, including impaired long-term protein expression, siRNA instability, off-target effects, immunological responses, and drug resistance, have been considerable obstacles to the use of siRNA-based antiviral therapies. This review provides an encompassing summary of the siRNA-based therapeutic approaches against viruses while also addressing the obstacles that need to be overcome for their effective application. Furthermore, we present potential solutions to mitigate major challenges.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Biomedical Science is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that focuses on fundamental and molecular aspects of basic medical sciences. It emphasizes molecular studies of biomedical problems and mechanisms. The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), Taiwan supports the journal and covers the publication costs for accepted articles. The journal aims to provide an international platform for interdisciplinary discussions and contribute to the advancement of medicine. It benefits both readers and authors by accelerating the dissemination of research information and providing maximum access to scholarly communication. All articles published in the Journal of Biomedical Science are included in various databases such as Biological Abstracts, BIOSIS, CABI, CAS, Citebase, Current contents, DOAJ, Embase, EmBiology, and Global Health, among others.