Synthetic gene transfer vectors II: back to the future

The discovery of RNA interference has given a new lease on life to both the chemistry of oligonucleotides and chemical approaches for the intracellular delivery of nucleic acids. In particular, delivery of siRNA, whether in vitro for screening and target validation purposes or in humans as a new class of drugs, may revolutionize our approach to therapy. Their impact could equal that of the bioproduction and various uses of monoclonal antibodies today. Unfortunately, global pharmaceutical companies again seem to be waiting to buy the next Genentech or Genzyme of gene silencing rather than investing research and development into this promising area of research. Gene silencing encounters barriers similar to gene addition and hence may benefit from the extra decade of experience brought by gene therapy. "Chemical" transfection of cells in culture has become routine, and this Account discusses some of the reasons this success has not extended to nonviral gene therapy trials, most of which do not progress beyond the phase 2 stage. The author also discusses a (much debated) mechanism of nucleic acid cell entry and subsequent release of the polycationic particles into the cytoplasm. Both topics should be useful to those interested in delivery of siRNA. The move from gene therapy toward siRNA as an oligonucleotide-based therapy strategy provides a much wider range of druggable targets. Even though these molecules are a hundredfold smaller than a gene, they are delivered via similar cellular mechanisms. Their complexes with cationic polymers are less stable than those with a higher number of phosphate groups, which may be compensated by siRNA concatemerization or by chemical conjugation with the cationic carrier. Thus chemistry is again desperately needed.