碳纳米管作为siRNA转运载体的研究进展

随着人们对RNA干扰分子机理的研究愈加深入,siRNA作为一种新的基因治疗药物极有可能为人类攻克癌症等难以治愈的疾病带来希望。然而,目前在RNA干扰应用中遇到的最大挑战就是如何有效地将siRNA导入靶细胞且不致引起严重的细胞毒性。碳纳米管在药物传递和基因传递等生物医学领域的潜在应用受到广泛关注;但要实现碳纳米管在基因治疗领域的应用,碳纳米管的功能化是关键,也是近几年来研究的重点。综述近年来碳纳米管作为siRNA转运载体在基因治疗领域的研究进展。

Recent advances in the study of the carbon nanotubes for small interfering RNA delivery

With increasing knowledge on the molecular mechanisms of endogenous RNA interference, small interfering RNAs （siRNAs）, as innovative nucleic acid medicines, bring great hopes to cure some incurable diseases such as cancers. However, the main issue in RNA interference is to deliver siRNAs into the targeted cells without eliciting toxicity. Carbon nanotubes are expected to solve the aforementioned issue in the field of gene therapy especially in the application of RNA interference, which may be a revolutionary advancement in the area of biomedicine. However, the lack of surface functional groups greatly limits its application. So functionalization is needed. In recent years, much progress has been made in this area. In this review, we summarize the recent development of carbon nanotubes for small interfering RNA delivery in the area of gene therapy.