Liposomes for Targeting RNA Interference-Based Therapy in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

The discovery of RNA interference (RNAi) in mammalian cells in 2001 opened up a new class of candidate therapeutics for hard-to-cure diseases like inflammatory bowel diseases. The main challenge for the development of RNAi-based therapeutics is the efficient and safe delivery of RNAi since the RNAi machinery is housed in the cytoplasm. Among the various approaches to active targeting, liposome-based delivery systems are innovative and promising systems to transport and control RNAi molecules release and overcome some of their limitations. Many RNAis in lipid formulations have progressed through various stages of clinical trials, with the measurable improvements in patients and no side effects. For colon targeting, liposomes can be manipulated by different methods. This chapter discusses the progress in delivering RNAi molecules to the colon using liposomes