siRNA: a new approach to target neuropathic pain

Neuropathic pain remains one of the most challenging of all the neurologic diseases and represents a large unmet need of the medical world. It often requires patience on the part of the patient and the physician who must try a variety of different medications on a trial and error basis until a satisfactory regimen is established. The development of efficacious therapies with minimum side effect profiles has been the subject of intense research and development in the pharmaceutical industry. Emergence of biologic approaches, such as antibodies, short interfering RNA (siRNA), and gene therapy, offer powerful therapeutic possibilities to treat neuropathic pain and other associated neurologic dysfunction. This review describes the progress that has been made to relieve neuropathic pain using siRNA as a tool for treatment. Further, the review discusses the limitations of using naked siRNA as a therapeutic and a scope for the use of suitable packaging or delivery systems.