Table 2.

Antiviral siRNAs or shRNAs designed and validated

	Virus family	Genome	Genes targeted
Herpes simplex virus [58, 59]	Herpesviridae	Linear double-stranded DNA genome	UL29.2 (a viral DNA binding protein affecting virus replication) UL54, UL29 and UL27
Human immunodeficiency virus [60–62]	Retroviridae	Single-stranded positive-sense RNA virus with a DNA intermediate	HIV-1 core proteins Gag, Rev, Tat and the 3′-LTR
Hepatitis C virus [63]	Flaviviridae	Positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus	Viral internal ribosome entry sequence pseudoknot
Human parainfluenza virus [64]	Paramyxoviridae	Negative-sense single-stranded RNA viruses	Essential viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase subunits, L and P
Respiratory syncytial virus [48, 64]	Paramyxoviridae	Negative-sense single-stranded RNA viruses	Nucleocapsid and essential viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase subunits, L and P,
Hepatitis B virus [35, 65, 66]	Hepadnaviridae	Circular DNA, but not fully double-stranded	3.5-kb pre-genomic RNA encoding the core protein/HBeAg and polymerase-reverse transcriptase
Human papillomavirus 18 [67]	Papillomaviridae	Circular, double-stranded viral genome	Early proteins 6 and 7 mRNAs
Measles virus [68]	Paramyxoviridae	Negative-sense-single-stranded RNA viruses	Nucleocapsid (N), phosphoprotein (P), and polymerase (L) mRNAs
Rotavirus [69]	Reoviridae	11 segments of dsRNA	Virus spike protein VP4
Ebola virus [57]	Filoviridae	Negative-sense single-stranded RNA linear genome	Viral protein 35, RNA polymerase
Hendra virus [70]	Paramyxoviridae	Negative-sense single-stranded RNA genome	N, P and M mRNA
Influenza [71–73]	Orthomyxoviridae	Negative-sense segmented single-stranded RNA genome	Nucleoprotein, RNA Polymerase subunit B
SARS coronavirus [74]	Coronaviridae	Positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome	Spike protein-coding and ORF1b (NSP12) regions
Vesicular stomatitis virus [64]	Rhabdoviridae	Negative-sense single-stranded RNA genome	Essential viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase subunits L and P
Foot and mouth disease virus [75]	Picornaviridae	Positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome	3D protein and 3′ untranslated region
Bovine viral diarrhoea virus [76]	Flaviviridae	Positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome	5′ non-translated (NTR) region and the regions encoding the C, NS4B and NS5A proteins
Chicken anaemia virus [77]	Circoviridae	Single-stranded circular DNA genome	Viral protein (VP) 1, or overlapping sections of VP2/3 and VP1/2
Marek’s disease virus [78]	Herpesviridae	Linear double-stranded DNA genome (10) which contains ~80 genes	gB glycoprotein and ICP4 transcriptional regulatory mRNAs