 Despite the proliferation of promising cell culture studies for RNAi @-@ based drugs , some concern has been raised regarding the safety of RNA interference , especially the potential for " off @-@ target " effects in which a gene with a coincidentally similar sequence to the targeted gene is also repressed . A computational genomics study estimated that the error rate of off @-@ target interactions is about 10 % . One major study of liver disease in mice reported that 23 out of 49 distinct RNAi treatment protocols resulted in death . Researchers hypothesized this alarmingly high rate to be the result of " oversaturation " of the dsRNA pathway , due to the use of shRNAs that have to be processed in the nucleus and exported to the cytoplasm using an active mechanism . Such considerations are under active investigation , to reduce their impact in the potential therapeutic applications . 
