The Path To The Development of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines

WATERTOWN, Mass. - Sept. 26, 2022 - PRLog -- Since the first successful application of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) as a vaccine agent in clinical studies, many advances have been made in the field of mRNA therapeutic technology after nearly 30 years of development. Vaccines are essential tools for the prevention, control and/or eradication of infectious diseases and are an essential part of global public health programmes.

The development and approval of an effective coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine is an important milestone during the current pandemic. To combat the disease caused by a previously unknown pathogen, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a large number of vaccine development projects have been launched simultaneously.

With the discovery of mRNA, research in the field proliferated and resulted in several scientific breakthroughs that culminated in the development of RNA vaccines. Previously, detection of mRNA properties has been hampered by minimal cellular uptake of naked mRNA. However, the development of protective lipid formulations has made subsequent work on mRNA less complicated. Protective lipid formulations were first used successfully in a 1978 study.

Combined with LNP, modified mRNA is the basis of the current independent mRNA vaccine platform. This platform proved to be the most successful mRNA vaccine platform due to its ability to generate the best immune response. The optimal immune response is derived from the balance between LNP adjuvant function and modified mRNA to improve efficacy and safety. Despite the multiple advantages offered by the mrNA-LNP platform, there is still room for improvement and we are likely to see further iterations of this technology.

It has been reported that humans secrete proinflammatory interleukin (IL) -1b, whereas mice control inflammation by inducing upregulation of IL-1 receptor antagonists. Another challenge in this area is that lipid components themselves may activate immune responses, which may vary depending on the composition and type of preparation. A study comparing LNP and liposomes found that the difference was due to cytokine induction, suggesting that the ionizable lipids of LNP preparations may be responsible for the difference.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the fastest rate of vaccine development in history, and while the therapeutic potential of mRNA has been studied for decades before, it has not yet been able to be marketed as a medical treatment, and the time is now ripe to exploit its unique properties compared to traditional vaccine approaches. We aim to give an overview of approved COVID19 mRNA vaccines (https://www.biochempeg.com/article/194.html) and vaccine candidates, as well as their different molecular approaches in this rapidly evolving field.

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