The Little RNAs

MIT's Technology Review checks in with Regulus, a startup owned by both Alnylam and Isis that focuses on developing miRNA-based drugs. "The analogy we like to use is that miRNA is the maestro conducting the orchestra — the entire biological network," Regulus's Zak Zimmerman tells Tech Review."If something goes wrong with the maestro, the orchestra starts to play off-key." So far, the company has developed compounds that affect the oligonucleotides of miRNAs and is particularly interested in heart failure and renal fibrosis. However, the article adds, getting from a compound to a drug is likely to take a lot of work as miRNAs affect many processes and therapies targeting them may cause a variety of side effects.