Five recent publications have documented the successful development and use of gene
transfer vectors based on adeno-associated virus (AAV) for expressing short hairpin RNA
(shRNA). In cultured mammalian cells and in whole animals, infection with these vectors
was shown to result in specific, efficient, and stable knockdown of various targeted endo-or
exogenous genes. Here we review this exciting approach, to trigger RNA interference in
vitro and in vivo by shRNA expressed from AAV vectors, and describe the state-of-the-art …