Characterization of Hammerhead Ribozymes Potentially Suitable for the Treatment of Hyper-Proliferative Vascular Diseases

Chapter

Abstract

Nucleic acid based drugs have emerged as attractive and novel alternatives to commonly used drugs for the treatment of different human diseases. Hammerhead ribozymes were the first type of nucleic acid based drugs to be extensively studied and predicted to be of potential practical utility. These are catalytic RNA molecules capable of inducing the site-specific cleavage of a phosphodiester bond within an RNA molecule. Thus, they can be used to reduce the intracellular level of a specific mRNA coding for a protein which affects cellular metabolism or environment, causing disease. Here we present a description of hammerhead ribozyme cleavage kinetic properties, some of the problematic related to their delivery from viral vectors and the description of their potential application in the cardiovascular field with a particular accent on the pathological condition known as artery-restenosis.

Keywords

Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Hammerhead Ribozyme Alternate Conformation Nucleic Acid Molecule Cardiovascular Application 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2008

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Internal MedicineUniversity Hospital of TriesteCattinaraItaly
  2. 2.Department of Molecular PathologyUniversity Hospital of TübingenTübingenGermany
  3. 3.Department of Chemical Engineering (DICAMP)University of TriesteTriesteItaly

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