Recent siRNA Research Publications Support Silence Therapeutics Combined Developmen...(ystemresponse. This approach has allowed...),Health

Silence Therapeutics has previously reported in 2006, in two peer reviewed publications in Gene Therapy(3,4), the functional in vivo delivery of different AtuRNAi-lipoplexes (chemically modified siRNA molecules formulated in a proprietary lipid complex). In particular, Silence Therapeutics' AtuPLEX formulation was shown to both avoid immune responses (published data demonstrates lack of activation of interferon-alpha and IL-12) and induce RNAi-mediated gene silencing as demonstrated by the selective inhibition of endogenous target-specific gene expression in vivo. Furthermore, independent publications by Judge(6) and Kim(2) also demonstrate that the chemical modification modality utilized in AtuRNAi obviates an immune response.

These Gene Therapy papers also show that the target-specific knockdown (gene silencing) resulted in the modulation of a specific biochemical signaling pathway containing the target, thus demonstrating the potential therapeutic benefits in certain oncology indications.

The multi-faceted approach that Silence Therapeutics has taken to realize the enormous potential of siRNA therapeutics was substantiated by Dr. Alan Sachs, Vice President for RNA Therapeutics at Merck Research Laboratories, a unit of Merck, who was quoted in the New York Times,(5) saying that "future versions of RNA drugs could be encapsulated in fat globules and chemically modified. That would help the drugs enter cells and keep them from setting off the immune system."

Jeff Vick further commented, "That future is now. This is the exact approach pioneered by Silence Therapeutics. Our current pipeline is based on combining our state-of-the-art AtuRNAi molecules and A
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