When viruses infect our cells, or when transposons and transgenes are randomly integrated into host genomes [such a a virus replicating-eg, the mononucleosis causing EBV], double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) is frequently produced from the foreign genes. Most eukaryotes, including humans, possess an innate cellular immune radar like system that specifically responds to the presence of dsRNA and activates processes that act post-transcriptionally [after the DNA has replicated] to silence the expression of the interloping genes. This mechanism is now commonly referred to as RNA interference or RNAi. During RNAi, long transcripts of dsRNA are rapidly processed into small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), which represent RNA duplexes of specific length and structure that finally guide sequence-specific degradation of mRNAs homologous in sequence to the siRNAs. siRNAs may be the best tools for target validation in biomedical research today and cancer therapeutics, because of their exquisite specificity, efficiency and endurance [ long lasting effect] of gene-specific silencing.
This topic can get very complicated in a hurry. I can go into more depth if there is interest.
Biiotech/Pharma companies that make RNAi reagents for research use are Invitrogen (NASDAQ: IVGN) and Sigma-Aldrich (NASDAQ:SIAL) just to name a few.
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