ONE of the most reviled substances in medicine could lead to new treatments for a wide range of diseases. By using cholesterol to stabilise tiny pieces of interfering RNA, researchers at biotech company Alnylam have been able to shut down a specific gene in animals using a simple injection.
“This is a pretty simple solution to the daunting problem of delivery that people thought would hold up the technology,” says John Rossi, an RNA interference researcher at the City of Hope hospital in Duarte, California, who has no connection with Alnylam. “If this works for other disease genes and viral targets, it will revolutionise the use…
