# Chemical engineering of therapeutic RNAs for extrahepatic delivery

> **NIH NIH R35** · UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS MED SCH WORCESTER · 2021 · $435,500

## Abstract

Project Summary
Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are informational drugs that can be designed to treat genetically defined
disorders and thereby reshape our approach to human medicine. The clinical utility of siRNAs depends on
functional delivery to a tissue and cell type of interest, which is in turn defined by oligonucleotide chemistry.
When a chemical architecture—i.e., oligonucleotide modification pattern—that provides functional and non-
toxic delivery to a tissue is optimized, candidate drugs can be quickly developed to treat other diseases with
the same tissue involvement. Currently, the clinical utility of siRNA is limited to liver, where conjugation of
trivalent N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc) moiety enables efficient delivery to hepatocytes and therapeutic
activity for a year after a single injection.
To expand the utility of siRNAs to tissues beyond liver, we must (i) optimize chemical modification patterns that
fully stabilize siRNAs and are non-toxic and compatible with the silencing machinery; (ii) understand the
mechanisms that define siRNA pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic behavior; and (iii) identify and
engineer novel ligands that enable targeted tissue delivery and sustained in vivo efficacy. We have the
demonstrated expertise in organic chemistry, combinatorial chemistry, oligonucleotide chemistry, RISC
biology, and siRNA pharmacology needed to solve these problems. To date, we have identified fully chemically
stabilized siRNA scaffolds that exhibit minimal toxicity and immunogenicity; engineered novel conjugates that
support functional delivery to liver, kidneys, heart, fat, muscle, and lung; defined chemical approaches to
dynamically modulate siRNA clearance; and synthesized novel backbone modifications (phosphonate variants)
that improve siRNA stability and, when placed in defined positions, enhance RISC efficacy and specificity.
Building on these recent advances, we propose four principal research directions that seek to (i) chemically
engineer siRNA scaffolds that enable complete stability and sustained efficacy of any RNA sequence in vivo;
(ii) establish phosphonate variants as a new backbone for the modulation of therapeutic RNA properties; (iii)
engineer and discover novel ligands that deliver siRNAs to tissues other than liver; and (iv) work with a network
of expert collaborators to investigate the therapeutic potential of novel chemical configurations in models of
diseases with unmet medical needs.
The completion of these studies will establish siRNA chemical architectures that enable functional extrahepatic
delivery of siRNAs and lead to the discovery of several compounds with the potential to transform therapeutic
approaches for range of diseases.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10134370
- **Project number:** 5R35GM131839-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS MED SCH WORCESTER
- **Principal Investigator:** ANASTASIA KHVOROVA
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $435,500
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-05-01 → 2024-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10134370

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10134370, Chemical engineering of therapeutic RNAs for extrahepatic delivery (5R35GM131839-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10134370. Licensed CC0.

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