Lipid nanoparticles for targeted siRNA delivery – going from bench to bedside

Timofei S Zatsepin,1–3 Yuri V Kotelevtsev,1 Victor Koteliansky1,2 1Center of Functional Genomics, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, 2Department of Chemistry, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 3Production Department, Central Research Institute of Epidemiology, Moscow, Russia Abstract: This review covers the basic aspects of small interfering RNA delivery by lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) and elaborates on the current status of clinical trials for these systems. We briefly describe the roles of all LNP components and possible strategies for their improvement. We also focus on the current clinical trials using LNP-formulated RNA and the possible outcomes for therapy in the near future. Also, we present a critical analysis of selected clinical trials that reveals the common logic behind target selection. We address this review to a wide audience, especially to medical doctors who are interested in the application of RNA interference–based treatment platforms. We anticipate that this review may spark interest in this particular audience and generate new ideas in target selection for the disorders they are dealing with. Keywords: RNA therapeutics, siRNA, mRNA, lipid nanoparticle, targeted delivery, clinical tria