Latest News

Mirus' High Pressure Nucleic Acid Delivery Technology Enables In Vivo RNA Interference
in Adult Mice

Madison WI, July 29, 2002 - Mirus Corporation announced today that research demonstrating the use of "high pressure" methods for in vivo delivery of siRNA was published this week in the Nature Genetics Advance Online Publication. The article, "Efficient delivery of siRNA for inhibition of gene expression in postnatal mice", describes a method for the delivery of siRNA to organs of adult mice and demonstrates effective and specific inhibition of transgene expression in a variety of organs.

Delivery of siRNAs, which are short double-stranded RNA molecules, results in the induction of a newly discovered, powerful genetic inhibitory pathway termed RNA interference (RNAi). RNAi operates by efficiently and selectively degrading a target mRNA through the action of a ribonucleoprotein complex containing the siRNA and cellular proteins. Until, recently the use of RNAi has been limited to plants and lower eukaryotic organisms because the long, double-stranded RNA molecules used to induce RNAi in these organisms also induce the non-specific interferon response in mammalian cells. The discovery that short, synthetically prepared siRNAs themselves could be used to induce RNAi and bypass the interferon pathway has opened up the use of this gene inhibition mechanism in mammalian cells and organisms. Mirus' In Vivo delivery method now extends the use of siRNA to adult mice. This technology allows for a range of new applications including target validation for drug discovery and medical therapeutics.

Founded in 1995 to commercialize discoveries made in the University of Wisconsin laboratory of Dr. Jon Wolff, Mirus is best known for its pioneering work in the development of non-viral In Vivo delivery technologies for genes and drugs. A clinical trial utilizing Mirus gene delivery methodologies is expected to initiate later in 2002. Mirus currently sells an extensive line of In Vitro products for transfection, nucleic acid labeling and siRNA research.

To see the abstract for this article at Nature Genetics, go to the Nature Genetics Advanced Online Publication site. The article and online supplements are available for download.

Return to Press Releases