RNA interference (RNAi) was discovered as cellular gene regulation mechanism in 1998, but several RNAi-based applications for
gene silencing have already made it into clinical trials. RNAi approaches have targeted pathogenic human viruses causing acute or chronic infections. HIV-1 infection has been considered for RNAi-based gene therapy. Viruses like HIV-1 are particularly difficult targets for RNAi-attack because they are escape-prone, which requires combinatorial RNAi strategies to prevent viral escape. The future of antiviral RNAi therapeutics is very promising, but it remains of critical importance to include many controls in pre-clinical test models to unequivocally demonstrate sequence-specific action of the RNAi inducers.
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Labels: Cellular gene regulation mechanism, HIV-1