RNA Therapeutics Institute Publications
UMMS Affiliation
RNA Therapeutics Institute; Program in Molecular Medicine; Department of Medicine
Publication Date
2015-12-01
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology | Cell and Developmental Biology | Genetics and Genomics | Molecular Biology | Neuroscience and Neurobiology | Therapeutics
Abstract
Applications of RNA interference for neuroscience research have been limited by a lack of simple and efficient methods to deliver oligonucleotides to primary neurons in culture and to the brain. Here, we show that primary neurons rapidly internalize hydrophobically modified siRNAs (hsiRNAs) added directly to the culture medium without lipid formulation. We identify functional hsiRNAs targeting the mRNA of huntingtin, the mutation of which is responsible for Huntington's disease, and show that direct uptake in neurons induces potent and specific silencing in vitro. Moreover, a single injection of unformulated hsiRNA into mouse brain silences Htt mRNA with minimal neuronal toxicity. Thus, hsiRNAs embody a class of therapeutic oligonucleotides that enable simple and straightforward functional studies of genes involved in neuronal biology and neurodegenerative disorders in a native biological context.
Keywords
delivery, Huntington's disease, neurodegenerative disease, RNA interference, small interfering RNA
Rights and Permissions
Copyright © 2015 Official journal of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
DOI of Published Version
10.1038/mtna.2015.38
Source
Mol Ther Nucleic Acids. 2015 Dec 1;4:e266. doi: 10.1038/mtna.2015.38. Link to article on publisher's site
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Molecular therapy. Nucleic acids
Related Resources
PubMed ID
26623938
Repository Citation
Alterman, Julia F.; Hall, Lauren M.; Coles, Andrew H.; Hassler, Matthew R.; Didiot, Marie C.; Chase, Kathryn O.; Abraham, Jasmin; Sottosanti, Emily; Johnson, Emily S.; Sapp, Ellen; Osborn, Maire F.; Difiglia, Marian; Aronin, Neil; and Khvorova, Anastasia, "Hydrophobically Modified siRNAs Silence Huntingtin mRNA in Primary Neurons and Mouse Brain" (2015). RNA Therapeutics Institute Publications. 20.
https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/rti_pubs/20
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Included in
Cell and Developmental Biology Commons, Genetics and Genomics Commons, Molecular Biology Commons, Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons, Therapeutics Commons