. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Jul 25.

Published in final edited form as: Pharm Res. 2011 Jul 20;28(12):3043–3049. doi: 10.1007/s11095-011-0526-2

Table 1.

Advantages and disadvantages of various small RNA delivery methods

Methods	Advantages	Disadvantages
Hydrodynamic injection	Simple	Unstable; Require large amount
Viral delivery (Retroviruses; Adenoviruses; Adeno- associated viruses)	Long-term; High efficiency	Elicit immune response; Random integration
Lipid-based or polymer- based complex delivery	High efficiency	Highly immunogenic
Nanoparticle delivery	High efficiency; Targeted delivery; Low toxicity; Low immunogenic; Stable and relatively slow release rate	Complex formulation