shRNA technology: Investigating Ras-dependent cancer

Post-transcriptional modification of gene products has been used in science research for the past forty years. Newly developed techniques allow researchers to use RNA interference for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Two scientists at Harvard University recently used this technology to identify genes as possible targets in Ras-dependent cancer. Concurrent publications by Scholl et. al. and Luo et. al. show two different techniques using exogenous antisense manipulation of DNA. Although each research group used a unique type of post-transcriptional modification, they both caused synthetic lethality. Genes that were identified as synthetic lethal mutants showed abundant apoptosis in cancer cells, but not wild type cells. With these techniques they were able to prove the validity of shRNA interference and discover possible targets for future cancer treatments.