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Updated: Jan 5, 2026

Evaluation of the Efficacy And Toxicity of RNAs Targeting HIV-1 Production for Use in Gene or Drug Therapy
Published on: September 5, 2016
Harnessing therapeutic viruses as a delivery vehicle for RNA-based therapy
Leena Ylösmäki1, Beatrice Polini2, Sara Carpi2
1Laboratory of Immunovirotherapy, Drug Research Program, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Abstract:
Messenger RNA (mRNA) and microRNA (miRNA)-based therapeutics have become attractive alternatives to DNA-based therapeutics due to recent advances in manufacture, scalability and cost. Also, RNA-based therapeutics are considered safe since there are no risk of inducing genomic changes as well as the potential adverse effects would be only temporary due to the transient nature of RNA-based therapeutics. However, efficient in vivo delivery of RNA-based therapeutics remains a challenge. We have developed a delivery platform for RNA-based therapeutics by exploiting the physicochemical properties of enveloped viruses. By physically attaching cationic liposome/RNA complexes onto the viral envelope of vaccinia virus, we were able to deliver mRNA, self-replicating RNA as well as miRNA inside target cells. Also, we showed that this platform, called viRNA platform, can efficiently deliver functional miRNA mimics into B16.OVA tumour in vivo.
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