Novel siRNA-based molecular beacons for dual imaging and therapy

Short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) have become a mainstream tool reliably used to study and silence protein expression. We offer a proof-of-principle demonstration that siRNAs may be modified into a siRNA-based molecular beacon that activates upon binding to sequence-specific mRNA in cells while mediating RNA interference. We successfully demonstrate detection and knockdown of telomerase expression in human breast cancer cells. This probe provides a novel look at siRNA target validation that is not currently possible in live cells and holds promising potential in biological applications for disease detection and therapy based on mRNA expression, such as a telomerase-targeted siRNA probe in cancer.