Biodegradable nano-polymers as delivery vehicles for therapeutic small non-coding ribonucleic acids

Nowadays, small non-coding Ribo Nucleic Acids (sncRNAs) such as siRNA, miRNA and shRNA are extremely serving to gene regulation. They are involved in many biological processes and in an increasing number of studies regarding a variety of application of sncRNAs toward human health and relieving diseases ranging from metabolic disorders to those involving various organ systems as well as different types of cancer. One of the most severe limitations for applying RNA interference technology is the absence of safe and effective carriers for in vivo delivery, including localizing the molecules to a specific site of interest and sustaining the presentation of the payloads for a controlled period of time. In this review, we focus on the sncRNA functions and recent advances on the delivery of these molecules by biodegradable, biocompatible and nontoxic biopolymers including chitosan, cyclodextrins, poly-L-lysine, dextran, poly (lactic co-glycolic acid), polyglutamic acid, hyaluronic acid and gelatin. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.