Taxus Chinensis siRNA New Drug Techniques

Developed by Chair Prof. Jiang Zhihong’s research team. Small interfering nucleic acid siRNA drugs are one of the fastest growing new biomedicines today, and new drug candidates can be quickly designed according to the target gene mRNA, but siRNA drugs cannot be designed for diseases with unknown targets. To this end, the team of Professor Jiang Zhihong, director of the State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Traditional Chinese Medicine of Macau University of Science and Technology, adopted a research strategy that is contrary to the current siRNA drug design, and through the established RNA omics platform, the RNA molecule tRF-T11 with strong cytotoxicity to tumor cells was screened from the southern yew tree, and the proliferation of ovarian cancer was inhibited by the RNAi mechanism. The research was published as a cover article (2022, 27, 718-732) in the world-renowned Cell Press Journal Molecular Therapy-Nucleic Acids (top 10% in the field of medical research and experimentation, impact factor 8.886). This is the world's first original discovery on plant tRNA and its fragments to treat diseases by regulating genes, fully demonstrating M.U.S.T.’s comprehensive strength in the field of medicinal plant RNA research. The research results have been authorized by Chinese, Australian, and American patents, and in 2020, the "Technology Transfer Contract" was signed with Yingkerui (Hong Kong) Innovative Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., which accomplished the transformation of scientific research achievements of universities. At present, the project is in the preclinical research and development stage, including active sequence optimization, new dosage form research, and activity evaluation. In the future, the two sides will jointly promote the development of the world's first new siRNA drug of plant origin.