November 11, 2004

scientists comment on new research on cutting cholesterol levels

The research, published in the journal Nature, described the use of RNA interference (RNAi) technology to silence genes involved in the metabolism of cholesterol

Dr Julian Downward, Head of Signal Transduction, Cancer Research UK, said:

“This is a very exciting development in the design of new therapies for human diseases. For the first time it harnesses the great potency and specificity that RNA interference has shown in the lab to a format that can be used in patients in the clinic. This brings the prospect of uniquely targeted therapies a big step closer, even for diseases that have previously proven hard to develop conventional drugs against.”

Dr Andrew Hamilton, Lecturer in Gene Regulation and Mechanisms of Disease, University of Glasgow, said:

“It’s one more step toward the clinic for RNAi. Although in future there may be many diseases we could treat with RNAi-based medicine, we need more work on targeting, efficiency, persistence and possible side effects.”