Effective carrier-free gene-silencing activity of cholesterol-modified siRNAs

The use of short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) as therapeutics holds great promise, but chemical modifications must first be employed to improve their pharmacokinetic properties. This study evaluates the in vitro cellular uptake and knock-down efficacy of cholesterol-modified triazole-linked siRNAs targeting firefly luciferase in the absence of a transfection carrier. These siRNAs displayed low cytotoxicity and excellent dose-dependent knockdown in HeLa cells in the 500 to 3000 nM concentration range, with a 70–80% reduction in firefly luciferase activity. Our results indicate that this modification is compatible with the RNA interference pathway, and is less cytotoxic and more effective than a commercially-available triethylene glycol (TEG) cholesterol modification.