RNA interference mediated inhibition of vascular endothelial growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor gene expression using short interfering nucleic acid (siNA)

The present invention concerns methods and reagents useful in modulating vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF, VEGF-A, VEGF-B, VEGF-C, VEGF-D) and/or vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (e.g., VEGFR1, VEGFR2 and/or VEGFr3) gene expression in a variety of applications, including use in therapeutic, diagnostic, target validation, and genomic discovery applications. Specifically, the invention relates to small nucleic acid molecules, such as short interfering nucleic acid (siNA), short interfering RNA (siRNA), double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), micro-RNA (miRNA), and short hairpin RNA (shRNA) molecules capable of mediating RNA interference (RNAi) against VEGF and/or VEGFr gene expression and/or activity. The small nucleic acid molecules are useful in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, proliferative diseases, and any other disease or condition that responds to modulation of VEGF and/or VEGFr expression or activity.