Knocking down disease: a progress report on siRNA therapeutics

Manipulating the in vivo immune response by targeted gene knockdown

Aptamers, nucleic acids selected for high affinity binding to proteins, can be used to activate or antagonize immune mediators or receptors in a location and cell-type specific manner and to enhance antigen presentation. They can also be linked to other molecules (other aptamers, siRNAs or miRNAs, proteins, toxins) to produce multifunctional compounds for targeted immune modulation in vivo. Aptamer-siRNA chimeras (AsiCs) that induce efficient cell-specific knockdown in immune cells in vitro and in vivo can be used as an immunological research tool or potentially as an immunomodulating therapeutic.

Optimized effective charge density and size of polyglycerol amines leads to strong knockdown efficacy in vivo

The balance between core size, multiplicity and effective charge density plays an important role for the development of potent siRNA delivery systems.