siRNA did not fail in cancer. It was given the wrong job
Brett Schrand · 2026
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Description
Brett Schrand argues that gene-silencing drugs were misread as failures in cancer care. Every approved small interfering RNA drug targets the liver through the same delivery route, while early cancer programs such as CALAA-01 and DCR-MYC showed tolerability but almost no lasting benefit. The standard verdict blames delivery. Schrand calls that verdict incomplete: the deeper error was the job given to the molecule.
Those programs asked silencing to kill cancer cells outright by shutting down drivers such as KRAS and MYC. Knockdown is patchy across a tumor, so killing only the reached fraction merely selects the rest. Schrand warns that better chemistry alone will repeat the mistake.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Brett Schrand |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 7 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |