Perspectives of RNA interference application in the therapy of diseases associated with defects in alternative RNA splicing

The primary transcript of an eukaryotic gene (pre-mRNA) is composed of coding regions – exons intervened by non-coding introns – which are removed in the RNA splicing process, leading to the formation of mature, intron-free mRNA. Alternative splicing of pre-mRNA is responsible for high complexity of the cellular proteome and expresses effective use of genetic information contained in genomic DNA. Alternative splicing plays important roles in the organism, including apoptosis regulation or development and plasticity of the nervous system. The main role of alternative splicing is differential, dependent on conditions and the cell type, splicing of mRNA, generating diverse transcripts from one gene, and, after the translation, different isoforms of a particular protein. Because of the high complexity of this mechanism, alternative splicing is particularly prone to errors. The perturbations resulting from mutations in the key sequences for splicing regulations are especially harmful. The pathogenesis of numerous diseases results from disturbed alternative RNA splicing, and those include cancers and neurodegenerative disorders. The treatment of these conditions is problematic due to their genetic background and currently RNA interference, which is a common mechanism of eukaryotic gene regulation, is being studied. Initial successes in the attempts of silencing the expression of faulty protein isoforms support the idea of using RNA interference in targeting disease related to disturbances in alternative splicing of RNA.