Editorial focus: understanding off-target effects as the key to successful RNAi therapy

Abstract With the first RNA interference (RNAi) drug (ONPATTRO (patisiran)) on the market, we witness the RNAi therapy field reaching a critical turning point, when further improvements in drug candidate design and delivery pipelines should enable fast delivery of novel life changing treatments to p...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Rafal Bartoszewski, Aleksander F. Sikorski
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2019-12-01
Series:Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s11658-019-0196-3
Description
Summary:Abstract With the first RNA interference (RNAi) drug (ONPATTRO (patisiran)) on the market, we witness the RNAi therapy field reaching a critical turning point, when further improvements in drug candidate design and delivery pipelines should enable fast delivery of novel life changing treatments to patients. Nevertheless, ignoring parallel development of RNAi dedicated in vitro pharmacological profiling aiming to identify undesirable off-target activity may slow down or halt progress in the RNAi field. Since academic research is currently fueling the RNAi development pipeline with new therapeutic options, the objective of this article is to briefly summarize the basics of RNAi therapy, as well as to discuss how to translate basic research into better understanding of related drug candidate safety profiles early in the process.
ISSN:1425-8153
1689-1392