Patent ID: 8173611

Claim:
A method for reducing or inhibiting cell proliferation in a human cancer cell comprising introducing into the cell an effective amount of at least one synthetic double-stranded RNA molecule of between 17 and 25 residues in length comprising a) an active strand comprising a sequence from 5′ to 3′ that is identical to a mature human miRNA sequence, and b) a separate complementary strand whose sequence from 5′ to 3′ is 100% complementary to the active strand, wherein the mature miRNA sequence is selected from the group consisting of: miR-16, miR-96, miR-101, miR-105, miR-124, miR-142, miR-147, miR-206, or miR-346, wherein the complementary strand comprises a chemical modification at the 5′ end that enhances activity of the active strand.