A review on RNAi technology and its therapeutic potential in Cancer

Abstract

Cancer is still considered as the major global cause of death. RNAi technology serves as one of the tools to treat cancer with its strategies, designs and delivery methods. This gene silencing technique causes knockdown of genes that encodes for diseased proteins or prevents overexpression of genes. Cancer development and progression occurs as a result of overactivation of different signaling pathways involved in cell proliferation, cell differentiation and cell survival. There are several proteins acting as signaling molecules which can induce cancer from their overproduction. Mutation can also lead to activation of oncogenes that codes for cancer causing proteins. To inhibit the production of the responsible protein in cancer, RNAi gene silencing technique is utilized with siRNA, shRNA and mRNA via degradation of the target mRNA responsible for the disease. This review paper provides an insight on the concept of RNAi technology and its therapeutic potential in different types of cancer.