Innate Immunity confounds the clinical efficacy of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs)

Selective silencing of DNA topoisomerase IIβ in human mesenchymal stem cells by siRNAs (small interfering RNAs)

hMSCs (human mesenchymal stem cells) express two isoforms of DNA topo II (topoisomerase II). Although both isoforms have the same catalytic activity, they are specialized for different functions in the cell: while topo IIα is essential for chromosome segregation in mitotic cells, topo IIβ is involved in more specific cellular functions. A number of inhibitors are available that inhibit the cata...

Design of active small interfering RNAs.

Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) have become the experimental tool of choice to suppress gene expression in a wide variety of organisms. Site selection and optimization does not appear to be as difficult for siRNAs as would be expected from historical experience with antisense oligonucleotides. Nevertheless, not all sites within a target gene perform equally. Significant progress has been made i...

Rotavirus gene silencing by small interfering RNAs.

RNA interference is an evolutionarily conserved double-stranded RNA-triggered mechanism for suppressing gene expression. Rotaviruses, the leading cause of severe diarrhea in young children, are formed by three concentric layers of protein, from which the spike protein VP4 projects. Here, we show that a small interfering RNA corresponding to the VP4 gene efficiently inhibits the synthesis of thi...

RNA interference and small interfering RNAs.

The term aRNA interferenceo (RNAi) was coined after the groundbreaking discovery that injection of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) into the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans leads to specific silencing of genes highly homologous in sequence to the delivered dsRNA. The RNAi phenotype is either identical to the genetic null mutant or resembles an allelic series of mutants. The dsRNA can also be deliver...

Structure - Functions Relations in Small Interfering RNAs