Emerging Physical Approaches for Promoting siRNA Intracellular Delivery for Cancer Therapy

RNA interference has been developed as a powerful technology for cancer therapy by intracellular delivery of siRNA and stably silences the specific related genes. Despite rapid advances regarding the intracellular delivery technologies of siRNA, cytotoxicity, survivability, and responses still generate significant challenges for the translation of basic medicine to clinical practices. In this review, biogenesis and function of siRNAs, current physical approaches for the delivery of siRNA with relative high survivability and low in cytotoxicity, and immunogenetic responses are discussed. Clinical evaluations of siRNA for cancer treatment are summarized and analyzed to point out the significant factors for applying bench technology to nanomedicine. Finally, some of the potential challenges that may limit the progress of siRNA therapeutics will be highlighted.