Natural virus-killing RNA mechanism found in mammals

It’s Nobel week. And while all eyes are on this year’s winners of the medicine/physiology prize for their work on cell transport mechanisms, it’s worth looking back at another award granted seven years ago to the discoverers of RNA interference (RNAi), the biological process by which small RNA molecules inhibit gene expression. In recent years, various RNAi therapies have entered clinical trials, including one that researchers reported earlier this month can drastically reduce cholesterol levels. But although scientists know that the biological machinery for RNAi is conserved in humans and can be exploited for therapeutic purposes it has been unclear whether the system is ever put into play under natural circumstances like it is in plants and invertebrates. Read more
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