RNA interference-based nanosystems for inflammatory bowel disease therapy

Abstract

Jian Guo,1 Xiaojing Jiang,1 Shuangying Gui1,2 1Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, 2Institute of Pharmaceutics, Anhui Academy of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, Anhui, People’s Republic of China Abstract: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, is a chronic, recrudescent disease that invades the gastrointestinal tract, and it requires surgery or lifelong medicinal therapy. The conventional medicinal therapies for IBD, such as anti-inflammatories, glucocorticoids, and immunosuppressants, are limited because of their systemic adverse effects and toxicity during long-term treatment. RNA interference (RNAi) precisely regulates susceptibility genes to decrease the expression of proinflammatory cytokines related to IBD, which effectively alleviates IBD progression and promotes intestinal mucosa recovery. RNAi molecules generally include short interfering RNA (siRNA) and microRNA (miRNA). However, naked RNA tends to degrade in vivo as a consequence of endogenous ribonucleases and pH variations. Furthermore, RNAi treatment may cause unintended off-target effects and immunostimulation. Therefore, nanovectors of siRNA and miRNA were introduced to circumvent these obstacles. Herein, we introduce non-viral nanosystems of RNAi molecules and discuss these systems in detail. Additionally, the delivery barriers and challenges associated with RNAi molecules will be discussed from the perspectives of developing efficient delivery systems and potential clinical use. Keywords: RNA interference, siRNA, miRNA, nanoparticles, inflammatory bowel disease, target therapy

Keywords

• RNA interference
• siRNA
• miRNA
• nanoparticles
• inflammatory bowel disease
• target therapy