An object of the present invention is to provide a novel double-stranded RNA that has high nuclease resistance and high cellular uptake efficiency, and that is capable of producing an excellent RNA interference effect. The present invention provides a lipid-modified double-stranded RNA comprising a sense strand having a nucleotide sequence complementary to a target sequence, and an antisense strand having a nucleotide sequence complementary to the sense strand, the double-stranded RNA being capable of inhibiting the expression of the target gene, the sense strand having a lipid linked to at least one of the first to sixth nucleotides from the 5' end side directly or via a linker.