What is mRNA Technology?

mRNA is the technology that Moderna and Pfizer used to develop their coronavirus vaccines. The technology may revolutionize the way diseases are treated – and prevented. Scientists are sequencing HIV, seasonal flu viruses, and certain cancers. These pieces of RNA may be used to teach the body to fight off a virus before it can run rampant throughout the body.

The vaccine approach to the coronavirus uses lipid nanoparticles — essentially fat bubbles — to deliver bits of a disease’s genetic material into the body, helping the immune system spot the spike proteins they use to enter human cells. Moderna is also working on two HIV vaccine candidates: mRNA-1644 and mRNA-1574. The vaccine has been tested successfully in macaque monkeys, by developing neutralizing antibodies that bind to the proteins that HIV uses to enter cells — neutralizing the disease before it can spread. Another mRNA test has protected humanized mice against HIV infection.

Meanwhile, phase 1 clinical trials for more effective seasonal flu vaccines will start this year, and additional RNA vaccines are being developed for mononucleosis, types of lymphoma and nasal cancer. Other experimental cancer vaccines will require doctors to extract tumor samples from the patient, sequence the genome and create a specific RNA therapy that will teach the immune system to destroy the cancer cells — and only the cancer cells. Six of 10 patients in an early trial responded positively to the treatment; in two, the cancer was destroyed, while four others stabilized and had no further cancer progression.

These newly developed therapies also offer promise in fighting a number of autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis, and a recent experiment suggests that mRNA treatment may be used to promote the development of blood vessels. An injection might improve outcomes in people undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery.

Thanks to these new, innovative technologies, it may be possible that there will be fewer deaths, and diseases, in our future.

Source:
https://www.poz.com/article/scientists-working-mrna-vaccines-hiv-flu-cancer