RNA Therapy: Current Status and Future Potential

When messenger RNA was discovered about sixty years ago, it was recognized just as an intermediate to transmit the genetic information between DNA and the ribosomes. After several key discoveries including RNA with enzymatic function (ribozyme) and the regulatory RNAs including microRNA and long noncoding RNAs, RNA is now accepted as the key molecules which are involved in nearly all biological pathways. While researchers were discovering the diverse roles of RNA, many scientists also noticed the substantial advantages of using RNA as therapeutic molecules. Their efforts led to the development of diverse RNA-based drugs over the last twenty years. With the ongoing extensive research into RNA therapy, it is expected that we will obtain diverse strategies for treating human diseases. This review will summarize the timeline of the important discoveries and the key topics of RNA therapy. Diverse RNA-based drugs and their delivery method will also be discussed.

There have been many essential discoveries that led to the establishment of the RNA therapy field (Fig. 1). After the discovery of DNA as genetic material, the key question was how the genetic information is translated into protein. The ‘unstable messengers’ which carry information from the DNA in the nucleus into the protein-synthesizing machinery (ribosomes) in the cytoplasm were discovered by Sydney Brenner and his colleagues.1, 2 This messenger RNA (mRNA), along with the transfer RNA (tRNA) were identified at a similar time3 and the ribosomal RNA (rRNA) which comprises the ribosome, had been recognized as one of the three main RNA classes in the cells.

FIG. 1
Timeline of key discoveries in RNA therapy. See the text for details.

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Because the RNA is a nucleic acid that can bind sequence-specifically to the other nucleic acids, a chemically synthesized antisense RNA can be employed to suppress the expression of target RNA. The initial experiment was performed more than forty years ago to block the replication of the Rous sarcoma virus and therefore suppress the cellular transformation.4 This approach is very straightforward in that the required information to make the antisense oligonucleotides is only the target sequence. Although diverse chemical modifications are applied to antisense oligonucleotides to make RNA-based drugs nowadays, the basic principle, which is the production of complementary sequences for the binding into target nucleic acids, is identical.

More than ten years after the first utilization of antisense oligonucleotides, the potential of mRNA for the treatment was reported. The researchers showed that direct injection of mRNA into mouse skeletal muscle without any delivery material resulted in the production of the corresponding protein.5 Soon after this study, other groups synthesized the mRNA code for the influenza nucleoprotein, encapsulated it into the liposome, and injected these complexes into mice.6 This treatment resulted in the induction of cytotoxic T lymphocyte suggesting this approach is valid to develop an RNA-based vaccine.

The discovery of RNA interference (RNAi) opened a new era in the application of this methodology into both the academic and therapeutic fields.7 Whereas the researchers in the academic field obtained an unprecedented tool to discover the function of an unknown gene by exploiting the inherently existing cellular mechanism, the medical industry acquired an easy way to eliminate disease-causing types of RNA. Whereas the antisense oligonucleotide techniques rely on the single-strand RNA, which binds complementarily to their targets, the molecule utilized in the RNAi pathway is small interfering RNA (siRNA), a short-sized double-stranded RNA. This makes the RNAi tools require a relatively tougher method to penetrate the cells but with fewer molecules (discussed in the next section).

In the same year when the RNAi was discovered, the first drug based on antisense oligonucleotide, fomivirsen, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States (Table 1).8 This antisense oligonucleotide drug works through binding to the complementary sequence of mRNAs produced from the cytomegalovirus (CMV) genome. It was developed to treat CMV retinitis, a disease with inflammation of the retina, in immunocompromised patients. However, it was withdrawn from the market because CMV retinitis cases dropped significantly due to the development of antiretroviral therapy.

TABLE 1
List of clinically approved RNA drugs by the United States Food and Drug Administration

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The second RNA-based drug called pegaptanib was approved by the FDA in 2004 (Table 1). Pegaptanib, the first RNA aptamer drug, was developed to treat the wet type of age-related macular degeneration.9 It works by specific binding to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), an essential factor for the formation and permeability of blood vessels.10 Through the blocking of the VEGF action, pegaptanib reduces the growth of the blood vessels within the eye.

After the discovery of RNAi, it was widely adopted for research in the laboratory, especially for cell-based studies. In the meantime, the therapeutic potential of RNAi was rapidly proved from initial studies regarding applying the siRNA to disrupt the sequence of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in adult mice.11 The potent effect of siRNA was shown through the transgene expression of a part of the HCV genome in this study.

The first clinical trial based on siRNA was reported in 2010.12 In this trial, siRNA encapsulated in the nanoparticle was administrated systemically to the patients with skin cancer melanoma. By confirming the existence of a mRNA cleavage fragment in the tumor biopsies from patients, which is evidently produced from the siRNA-mediated RNAi mechanism,13 this study demonstrated that siRNA administration can result in the inhibition of a specific target gene in human.

Although the potential of RNAi as research tools was evident and promising results from initial clinical trials were obtained, however, it takes quite a long time before a drug based on this technology is approved. Whereas the target RNAs were suppressed dramatically in the cell-based study, researchers realized that it was not so easy to deliver the siRNAs into the desired region of the body. Through experimentation, researchers noticed that the siRNA-based molecules injected into the body accumulated in the liver.14 Consequently, many companies tried to develop drugs that could target the diseases caused by a problem in this organ.

Finally, the first siRNA drug, patisiran, was approved by FDA in 2018 (Table 1). This drug exerts its effect by targeting the 3′ untranslated region of transthyretin mRNA.15 The transthyretin protein primarily made in the liver is clustered as amyloid deposits in the body of patients with hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis.16 By reducing the amount of transthyretin protein, patisiran can alleviate the symptoms of this disease. The second siRNA drug, givosiran, was approved in the last year.17 Considering the accumulated knowledge from recent research and many numbers of ongoing clinical trials, the development of diverse RNA-based drugs is expected in the near future.

One great advantage of RNA therapy is that RNA drug can be used to target ‘undruggable’ molecules which are otherwise hard to target using small molecule-based drugs. From an estimation, only one-fifth of proteins can be targeted by commonly used drugs including small molecules and antibodies.32 Moreover, it is impossible to target noncoding RNAs, which are not translated into proteins, using traditional small molecules or monoclonal antibodies. Since RNA drugs can bind specifically to all types of RNAs, the cellular molecules which have RNA forms in their intermediate stages during production (protein) or in their final form (noncoding RNAs) can be targeted.

Compared to small molecules, however, general RNA drugs are much bigger in size and have a high electric charge. This makes the intracellular delivery of RNA molecules in their native forms across cell membranes quite difficult. The delivery of RNA molecules into the right tissues is also another big huddle. In addition, RNAs are easily degraded due to the ubiquitous RNases inside the body. Thus, RNA, in its naked form, is difficult to use in therapy (Fig. 3).

FIG. 3
The delivery method in RNA therapy. The RNA drugs can be introduced into the cells as a naked form, although the efficiency is very low due to the high electric charge and the large size of RNAs. This problem can be solved by encapsulating the RNAs into lipid or other types of the nanoparticle. In another way, a chemical conjugate is attached to the RNA molecule, and this conjugate is recognized by a specific cell surface receptor. These nanoparticles and RNA-conjugate complexes are introduced through endocytosis and exert their effects.

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To solve the problem of intracellular delivery, researchers have utilized several delivery strategies. The nanoparticle is one of the strategies to introduce RNA drugs into the cell efficiently (Fig. 3). Nanoparticles for RNA delivery can be synthesized in a variety of forms.33 In one strategy, RNAs can be encapsulated inside the lipid bilayers with a positive surface charge. This lipid nanoparticle protects the RNAs and increases their half-life. Moreover, lipid bilayers increase the efficiency of endocytosis into the cells and help them escape the endosomes. Patisiran is one of the RNA drugs encapsulated inside the lipid nanoparticle. Many other RNA-based drugs now on the clinical trials also use lipid nanoparticles for their delivery.34 An additional strategy based on nanoparticle includes the method of mixing negatively charged RNAs with positively charged polymers.35 Since the liver is the main filtering tissue that traps nanoparticles, a large proportion of nanoparticle-based RNA drugs target the diseases which can be cured by delivering those drugs into the liver.14

Another major strategy to deliver RNA drugs is their conjugates. Since the conjugate binds to the specific receptor on the surface of the cells, it can be used to deliver the covalently bound RNA molecule into a specific cell type. Once the conjugate is bound to the cell surface receptor, the RNA-conjugate complex is introduced into the cells through receptor-mediated endocytosis (Fig. 3). One of the conjugates clinically used in RNA therapy is N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc). This conjugate is recognized by the hepatocyte-specific asialoglycoprotein receptor.36 Givosiran is the first-ever FDA-approved RNA drug based on GalNAc conjugate technology. The development of other types of conjugates is underway. A recent report showed that by conjugating the ligand of the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor, the antisense oligonucleotide was delivered to the pancreatic β-cells effectively.37 Since less excipient materials are required than using nanoparticle technology, the conjugate-based delivery shows a lower risk of toxicity.

The development of diverse RNA-based drugs reported recently shows the great potential of this field. Based on the knowledge accumulated so far, it is expected that new RNA-based drugs will emerge to treat various diseases that have no reported treatment method. As described above, one of the great advantages of RNA-based therapy is that it is possible to target both protein-coding and noncoding RNAs. For the protein-coding RNAs, RNA-based drugs can be used to modulate previously undruggable targets. Another advantage of RNA therapy is that researchers can design the drugs rapidly. After the phosphate backbone and ribose structures of RNA-targeting antisense oligonucleotides or siRNAs are established, the remaining step is just changing the sequence of RNAs so as to make the complementary binding of these RNA drugs to target molecules. The accumulated knowledge from the hard work that have been performed to control the characteristic of RNAs will make the design of RNA drugs even faster and easier.

Another important advantage of RNA therapy is its long-lasting effects when using siRNAs for RNA drugs. As shown from the recent clinical trial, the expression of target gene PCSK9 was suppressed efficiently, and consequently, the decreased level of LDL cholesterol was maintained even after six months from the treatment.27 This long-lasting effect of siRNA-based drugs is beneficial for patients whom it may not feasible to receive frequent treatments. Since small molecule-based drugs, which are still primarily used nowadays, do not last very long, more research into the development of siRNA-based drugs will improve the weakness of this type of drug.

The delivery of RNA-based drugs was one of the main challenges in this field. However, this problem has been considerably circumvented thanks to the recent development of the diverse delivery platforms. The results from recently approved drugs and those in the clinical trials showed that RNA drugs can be targeted to the liver with high efficiency. However, we still do not have a good strategy to deliver RNA drugs to the tissue other than the liver efficiently. Therefore, one of the essential studies in the future is to develop a way to deliver the drugs into these other tissues to treat diseases which have less relation to the liver.

We are witnessing remarkable progress in RNA therapy with great advances in RNA research. With the well-established field of small molecule or antibody-based drugs, we now have a new class of RNA-based drugs. By developing these diverse kinds of therapeutics together, it can be expected that diverse diseases with no treatment method today will be conquered in the near future.