Abstract
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is one of the main subtypes of inflammatory bowel disease. UC has a negative
effect on patients’ quality of life, and it is an important risk factor for the development of colitis-associated
cancer. Patients with UC need to take medications for their entire life because no permanent cure is available.
Therefore, approaches that target messenger RNA (mRNA) of proinflammatory cytokines and/or anti-inflammatory
cytokines are needed to improve the safety of UC therapy and promote intestinal mucosa recovery. The major
challenge facing RNA interference-based therapy is the delivery of RNA molecules to the intracellular
space of target cells. Moreover, nonspecific and systemic protein expression inhibition can result in adverse effects
and low therapeutic benefit. Thus, it is important to develop an efficient delivery strategy targeting the cytoplasm
of target cells to avoid side effects caused by off-target protein expression inhibition. This review focuses
on the most recent advances in the targeted nano delivery systems of siRNAs and mRNA that have shown in
vivo efficacy.