Budding Alliance of Nanotechnology in RNA Interference Therapeutics

Abstract

RNA interference (RNAi), as a novel technique in which RNA molecules limit or silence the gene expression, is currently a hot research topic for producing novel therapeutic materials for challenging diseases. In the development of RNAi-based therapies, nanoscale particles, with a varying diameter along with facile modification methods that can mediate effective RNAi with targeting potential, are gaining wide interest. The nanotechnology itself has tremendous potential in the field of healthcare, especially for the development of better pharmaceuticals. Nano-enabled delivery has shown great success in the delivery of RNAi based therapeutics to specific locations in the body. Especially, siRNAs show great potential for use in nucleic acid therapeutics because of their potent and specific RNAi-triggering activity. This review summarizes the advanced nanocarriers such as solid lipid nanoparticles, gold nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles, iron oxide nanoparticles, polymeric nanoparticles, nanotransformers and curdlan nanoparticles with special emphasis on various aspects of siRNA-based therapeutics.

Keywords: Nanotechnology; RNA interference; curdlan nanoparticles; metallic nanoparticles; nanotransformers; polymeric nanoparticles; siRNA..