Pushparaj Peter Natesan, Aarthi Joseph Jude, Kumar Srinivasan Dinesh, Manikandan Jayapal
Department of Physiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
Bioinformation. 2008 Jan 11;2(6):235-7. doi: 10.6026/97320630002235.
RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful technology with huge applications for functional genomics, target identification in drug discovery and elucidation of molecular signaling pathways. Current RNAi studies have demonstrated the clinical potential of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) in metabolic diseases, cancer, AIDS, malaria, neurodegenerative disorders, dental diseases and other illnesses. Interestingly, recent studies have shown that the small RNA molecules, either indigenously produced as microRNAs (miRNAs) or exogenously administered synthetic dsRNAs could effectively activate a particular gene in a sequence specific manner instead of silencing it. This novel, but still uncharacterized, phenomenon has been termed as RNA activation (RNAa). The paradoxical concept of Yin and Yang, which describe two primal opposing but complementary principles, can potentially be applied to elucidate the complex phenomenon of RNAa/RNAi in the RNAome. This warrants a proper understanding of the RNAi/RNAa molecular pathways in living organisms before any of the small dsRNAs can potentially be exploited for therapeutics in human beings.
RNA干扰（RNAi）是一项强大的技术，在功能基因组学、药物发现中的靶点识别以及分子信号通路的阐明等方面有着广泛应用。目前的RNAi研究已证明小干扰RNA（siRNA）在代谢性疾病、癌症、艾滋病、疟疾、神经退行性疾病、牙科疾病及其他病症中的临床潜力。有趣的是，最近的研究表明，无论是内源性产生的微小RNA（miRNA）还是外源性给予的合成双链RNA等小RNA分子，都能够以序列特异性方式有效激活特定基因，而非使其沉默。这种新颖但尚未完全阐明的现象被称为RNA激活（RNAa）。阴阳这一描述两种原始对立但互补原则的矛盾概念，有可能用于阐释RNA组中RNAa/RNAi这一复杂现象。在任何小双链RNA有可能被用于人类治疗之前，这需要我们对生物体中的RNAi/RNAa分子途径有恰当的理解。
