Retrovirus-mediated RNA interference. Targeting hTERT through stable expression of short-hairpin RNA

RNA interference (RNAi) has recently emerged as a reliable tool for studying the effects of knocking down or ablating the expression of specific genes. It is hoped that progress made in the laboratory toward in vitro down regulation of gene expression may be carried over into the clinic for treatment of diseases in which the expression of a specific gene is associated with initiation or progression of that disease. Such is the case with telomerase, an exciting drug target that has been the focus of numerous investigations with a wide variety of inhibitors. This chapter describes the use of retrovirally introduced short-hairpin RNA as an effector of stable, long-term RNAi in human cells.