The utilization of RNA molecules in nanotechnology approaches holds potential in several applications, which also include the synthesis of novel therapeutic compounds.
Nucleic Acid Therapeutics
In a review article published in Mary Ann Liebert’s peer-reviewed journal, Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, the opportunities, advantages and technical challenges related to the utilization of RNA in nanotechnology applications are discussed in detail. The title of the review article is ‘Uniqueness, Advantages, Challenges, Solutions, and Perspectives in Therapeutics Applying RNA Nanotechnology.’
In the review article, authors, Peixuan Guo and his colleagues from the University of Kentucky, Lexington, have emphasized the self-assembling capability of RNA molecules into nanoparticles with different structures. They have covered the key issues impacting the RNA therapeutics industry, including high manufacturing expenses and low yield in production, challenges in specific targeting and delivery, side effect and potential safety problems, and thermodynamic and chemical instability of the molecules, in detail.
Executive Editor Fintan Steele, SomaLogic, Boulder, Colorado, stated that RNA molecules’ outstanding enzymatic and structural properties continue to surprise researchers. It is a good sign that those properties are increasingly exploited for the improvement of human health and welfare, as explained by Dr. Guo and his colleagues.
Editorial team of the Nucleic Acid Therapeutics journal comprises Executive Editor Fintan Steele; and Co-Editors-in-Chief C.A. Stein, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, California, and Bruce A. Sullenger, Duke Translational Research Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina.
The review article can be accessed freely at the Nucleic Acid Therapeutics website, http://www.liebertpub.com/nat.