Nucleic acid delivery for therapeutic applications

Recent medical advances have exploited the ability to address a given disease at the underlying level of transcription and translation. These treatment paradigms utilize nucleic acids – including short interfering RNA (siRNA), microRNA (miRNA), antisense oligonucleotides (ASO), and messenger RNA (mRNA) – to achieve a desired outcome ranging from gene knockdown to induced expression of a selected target protein. Towards this end, numerous strategies for encapsulation or stabilization of various nucleic acid structures have been developed in order to achieve intracellular delivery. In this review, we discuss several therapeutic applications of nucleic acids directed towards specific diseases and tissues of interest, in particular highlighting recent technologies which have reached late-stage clinical trials and received FDA approval.