DSTHO: database of siRNAs targeted at human oncogenes: a statistical analysis

Existing treatments of human cancer, which is characterized by abnormal proliferation of cells often lead to fatal outcomes. Sequence selective silencing of oncogene expression using siRNA technology is emerging as a potential solution for cancer treatment. The exclusive selectivity and easy application to virtually any therapeutic target including intracellular factors and transcription factors renders siRNA oligonucleotide applications very promising. However, synthesis of siRNA having sufficient knockdown efficiency is laborious and cost intensive. The database is designed in order to aid the synthesis of siRNAs, which target human oncogenes (OsiRNAs). It provides OsiRNAs of known efficacy from previous experiments with links to published literature and theoretically pre-generated putative target sequences. In addition, links to available theoretical tools, databases and literature corresponding to siRNAs in general are also provided. The links to literature provide information about role of siRNA in therapeutics, chemical properties and transfection methods. Statistical analysis of mono-, di- and tri- mers located in OsiRNAs of known efficacies is performed to identify positional preferences and screen specific motifs. This analysis aids the design and synthesis of effective siRNAs, which particularly target human oncogenes. The database can be accessed at .