Employment of microRNA profiles and RNA interference and antagomirs for the characterization and treatment of respiratory disease

The complex etiology and heterogeneity of respiratory diseases have made it difficult to design pharmacological reagents that show good efficacy across a diseased population. The discovery of small 'non-coding' RNA molecules (small interfering (si)- and micro-RNAs) that regulate the function of a gene or clusters of genes and the design of synthetic analogues of these molecules may provide new directions for the treatment and characterization of respiratory disorders.