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Minireview: Ribonucleic Acid Interference for the Identification of New Targets for the Treatment of Metabolic Diseases

Department Metabolic Diseases, Hoffmann-La Roche, Nutley, New Jersey 07110

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. Cristina M. Rondinone, Department Metabolic Diseases, Hoffmann-La Roche, 340 Kingsland Street, Nutley, New Jersey 07110. E-mail: cristina.rondinone{at}roche.com.

Over the past years, RNA interference (RNAi) has exploded as a new approach to manipulate gene expression in mammalian systems. More recently, RNAi has acquired interest as a tool to identify new targets for therapeutic intervention. This review focuses on the current understanding of RNAi biology, how RNAi has been used to study the role of different genes in the pathogenesis of diabetes and obesity, and the use of RNAi screens for the identification of new targets for metabolic diseases. Also reviewed are the in vivo proof of principle experiments that provide the validation of these new targets for the development of RNAi-based therapeutics for diabetes.