The future of HIV infection: gene therapy and RNA interference.

The description of the mechanism of RNA interference (RNAi) has generated enormous interest in the biomedical field. A previously unrecognized pathway in which small interfering, 21 to 23 mer, double-stranded RNA (siRNA) mediates sequence-specific degradation of mRNA is becoming one the most useful techniques in cell biology and genetics research. Based on the potency, specificity and physiology of RNAi to silence gene expression, much is expected from its use as a therapeutic tool. The first evidence of RNAi as a suppressor of HIV replication has already been reported, thus providing a new impetus to the development of molecular or gene therapy approaches to HIV infection.