mRNA research and treatments

[Xyls]

And yet Drew Weismann and Katalin Kariko have STILL not been awarded the Nobel prize!

[wjfox]

AI generates mRNA in just 11 minutes

5th May 2023

A new algorithm developed by Chinese company Baidu Research is dramatically faster than prior methods and shown to boost the antibody response of mRNA vaccines by up to 128 times.

Read more: https://www.futuretimeline.net/blog/202 ... ccines.htm

[Xyls]

That's nice what they predict it would do... but it's still just that... a prediction... without studies that cannot be confirmed. Considering that a lot of development into COVID vaccines is slowing down at this point this may never actually be verified in reality.

Not impressed.

[wjfox]

Clinical trial of mRNA universal influenza vaccine candidate begins

Monday, May 15, 2023

A clinical trial of an experimental universal influenza vaccine developed by researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ (NIAID) Vaccine Research Center (VRC), part of the National Institutes of Health, has begun enrolling volunteers at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. This Phase 1 trial will test the experimental vaccine, known as H1ssF-3928 mRNA-LNP, for safety and its ability to induce an immune response.

The trial will enroll up to 50 healthy volunteers aged 18 through 49. Three groups of study participants (10 participants each) will be vaccinated with 10, 25 and 50 micrograms of the experimental vaccine, respectively. After evaluation of the data to determine an optimum dosage, an additional 10 participants will be enrolled to receive the optimum dosage. The study also will include a group of participants who will receive a current quadrivalent seasonal influenza vaccine. This will allow the researchers a point of direct comparison between the immunogenicity and safety of the candidate vaccine and available seasonal flu vaccines. Participants will be regularly evaluated to assess the vaccine’s safety (and, secondarily, its efficacy) and will receive follow-up appointments for up to one year after vaccination.

Seasonal influenza, or flu, kills thousands of people in the United States each year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that between 2010 and 2020, between 12,000 and 52,000 people died of flu in the United States annually(link is external). Although annual seasonal flu vaccines are valuable tools in controlling the spread and severity of influenza, they do not provide immunity against every flu strain. Each year, before the flu season begins, scientific experts must predict which influenza strains are likely to be most common during the upcoming months and then select three or four of these strains to include in the next seasonal flu vaccine. Vaccine manufacturers then need time to produce and distribute the vaccine—during which the dominant strains of the virus can change in unexpected ways, potentially decreasing the efficacy of the vaccine. An effective universal flu vaccine could eliminate these problems by protecting its recipients against a wide variety of strains and ideally providing durable long-term immunity, so people would not need to be vaccinated every year.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-re ... ate-begins



Influenza A Virus (H3N2) Credit: NIAID

[wjfox]

Kariko and Weissman thoroughly deserve this award.

What a shame all the conspiracy theory loons can't appreciate this stunning scientific advance.

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Nobel Prize goes to scientists behind mRNA Covid vaccines

2 minutes ago

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to a pair of scientists that developed the technology that led to the mRNA Covid vaccines.

Dr Katalin Kariko and Dr Drew Weissman will share the prize.

The technology was experimental before the pandemic, but has now been given to millions of people around the world.

The same mRNA technology is now being researched for other diseases and even cancer.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-66983060

[raklian]

[weatheriscool]

In the lab: An mpox mRNA vaccine that's outperforming its old-school predecessor
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-11- ... forms.html

The recent global mpox outbreak trained a bright spotlight on the need for safe and effective Orthopoxvirus vaccines, especially in light of continuously looming zoonotic threats and the potential for these pathogens to spread rapidly worldwide.

Now, a collaborative group of U.S. scientists is testing a candidate mRNA mpox nanoparticle vaccine with the hope of developing an immunization that is superior to the current mpox shot.

The research team mostly hails from the private and federal institutions that produced one of the highly successful COVID mRNA vaccines: Moderna Inc., in Cambridge, Mass., and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Bethesda, Md. The new study also included collaboration with the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Fort Detrick Md.

[firestar464]

Researchers redesign future mRNA therapeutics to prevent potentially harmful immune responses

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-12- ... ially.html

[wjfox]

Moderna’s mRNA cancer vaccine works even better than thought

December 24, 2023

Adding Moderna’s in-development cancer vaccine to a standard treatment for melanoma dramatically reduces cancer survivors’ risk of death or recurrence, according to newly shared trial data.

The challenge: To treat melanoma — the deadliest type of skin cancer — doctors typically start by surgically removing as much of the cancer as possible. They might then administer another treatment, such as chemo or radiation therapy, to kill any cancer cells they missed.

Even if a person is cancer-free after this, there’s always a chance of the melanoma coming back, and certain types are considered high-risk for recurrence, including ones that are particularly thick or that had metastasized (spread to other parts of the body) prior to treatment.

[...]

In 2022, they reported that the combo therapy reduced high-risk patients’ risk of recurrence or death by 44% compared to only Keytruda in the two years after treatment.

They’ve now announced that people who received both therapies were 49% less likely to experience recurrence or death a median of three years after treatment compared to people in the Keytruda-only group. They were also 62% less likely to experience distant metastasis or death.

https://www.freethink.com/health/cancer-vaccine

[wjfox]

First UK patients receive experimental messenger RNA cancer therapy

Sun 4 Feb 2024 05.00 GMT

A revolutionary new cancer treatment known as mRNA therapy has been administered to patients at Hammersmith hospital in west London. The trial has been set up to evaluate the therapy’s safety and effectiveness in treating melanoma, lung cancer and other solid tumours.

The new treatment uses genetic material known as messenger RNA – or mRNA – and works by presenting common markers from tumours to the patient’s immune system.

The aim is to help it recognise and fight cancer cells that express those markers.

“New mRNA-based cancer immunotherapies offer an avenue for recruiting the patient’s own immune system to fight their cancer,” said Dr David Pinato of Imperial College London, an investigator with the trial’s UK arm.

Pinato said this research was still in its early stages and could take years before becoming available for patients. However, the new trial was laying crucial groundwork that could help develop less toxic and more precise new anti-cancer therapies. “We desperately need these to turn the tide against cancer,” he added.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... -treatment

[wjfox]

Thousands of cancer patients to trial personalised vaccines

31 May 2024, 00:55 BST

Thousands of NHS cancer patients in England are expected to get access to trials of a new type of treatment using vaccines to fight their disease.

Thirty hospitals so far have signed up to the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad.

It is designed to match patients with forthcoming trials using mRNA technology, as found in current Covid jabs.

The vaccines are designed to prime the immune system to recognise and destroy any remaining cancer cells and reduce the risk of the disease recurring.

Elliot Pfebve, 55, is the first patient to be treated with a personalised vaccine against bowel cancer in England.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cl77qvd2krgo

[weatheriscool]

Closing the RNA loop holds promise for more stable, effective RNA therapies
https://phys.org/news/2024-08-rna-loop- ... apies.html
by Liezel Labios, University of California - San Diego

New methods to shape RNA molecules into circles could lead to more effective and long-lasting therapies, shows a study by researchers at the University of California San Diego. The advance holds promise for a range of diseases, offering a more enduring alternative to existing RNA therapies, which often suffer from short-lived effectiveness in the body.

The work is published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.

RNA molecules have emerged as powerful tools in modern medicine. They can silence genes through small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) or serve as templates for making therapeutic proteins, as seen with messenger RNAs (mRNAs). Unlike gene editing technologies, which make permanent changes to DNA, RNA therapies offer a temporary but highly targeted approach.

[weatheriscool]

Researchers develop new method for delivering RNA and drugs into cells
https://phys.org/news/2024-09-method-rn ... cells.html
by Qin Dai, University of Toronto

Researchers at the University of Toronto and its hospital partners have developed a method for co-delivering therapeutic RNA and potent drugs directly into cells, potentially leading to a more effective treatment of diseases.

The research, published recently in the journal Advanced Materials, explores how ionizable drugs can be used to co-formulate small interfering RNA (siRNA) for more effective intracellular delivery.

The team—including Molly Shoichet, the study's corresponding author and a University Professor in U of T's department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering—specifically targeted drug-resistant cells with the delivery of a relevant siRNA. The siRNA was discovered by study co-author and collaborator David Cescon, a clinician scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, and an associate professor in U of T's Temerity Faculty of Medicine.

[weatheriscool]

First mRNA stabilizing substance could aid in development of innovative mRNA therapeutics
https://phys.org/news/2024-10-mrna-stab ... utics.html
by Johann Jarzombek, Max Planck Society

Messenger RNA–based therapeutics and vaccines are the new hope in the fight against incurable diseases. A commonly used strategy in the development of messenger RNA (mRNA) medicine is based on the destruction of disease-causing mRNA. Achieving the opposite and stabilizing health-promoting mRNA is still a great challenge.

The team of Peter 't Hart, group leader at the Chemical Genomics Center at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology has now overcome this challenge. The chemists developed the first active substance that inhibits the deadenylation of mRNA and thus prevents its degradation.

This study, now published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, offers a promising starting point for the development of innovative mRNA-based therapeutics and tools for biologists to provide valuable insights into the process of mRNA degradation.

[weatheriscool]

Decoding the structure of nano 'gene ferries' to advance RNA drugs
https://phys.org/news/2024-11-decoding- ... vance.html
by Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich

LMU researchers have investigated how cationic polymers organize on a molecular level when transporting RNA drugs.

Cationic polymers are promising tools for transporting RNA therapeutics or RNA vaccines. Like lipid nanocarriers, they are used to deliver mRNA medicines. The nanoscopic packaging materials are able to effectively protect their load and deliver them to the target cells.

"We manufacture so-called 'gene ferries,' into which all kinds of therapeutic nucleic acids can be encapsulated for secure transport to the site of action," explains Professor Olivia Merkel, Chair of Drug Delivery at LMU's Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy.

To further improve the effectiveness of these gene ferries, however, it is important to understand how these particles organize on a molecular level, encapsulate RNA, and release it again—an aspect which so far has not been fully examined. Merkel is principal investigator of a new study that has yielded fresh insights into the organization of the nanocarriers.

[weatheriscool]

'Time machine' enzyme could improve mRNA-based therapeutics
https://phys.org/news/2025-04-machine-e ... utics.html
by University of Warsaw

Researchers from the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw (IIMCB) have described a new mechanism that improves the efficiency of mRNA-based therapies. The research findings could facilitate the development of novel therapeutics against cancers and infectious diseases.

The scientific experiments were carried out at IIMCB, but important contributions also came from collaborators at the Faculty of Physics and Faculty of Biology of the University of Warsaw, the Medical University of Warsaw, and the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The study by the Polish researchers has just been published in Nature.

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

Moderna's combo Covid and flu mRNA shot outperforms current vaccines in large trial

Source: NBC News

May 7, 2025, 11:02 AM EDT

Moderna’s combined Covid and flu shot outperformed the existing standalone vaccines for both viruses, according to the results of a phase 3 clinical trial published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The vaccine uses the same messenger RNA technology as Moderna’s approved Covid vaccine. (There are no approved mRNA-based flu shots.)

The trial, funded by Moderna, included more than 8,000 adults ages 50 and older who were enrolled in October and November 2023. For people ages 50 to 64, the new vaccine was compared to Moderna’s Covid vaccine and the flu shot Fluarix. For people 65 and older, it was compared to the Covid vaccine and a different flu shot, called Fluzone, which is a stronger dose typically given to older adults. The trial participants either got the existing shots, or the new combination vaccine plus a placebo shot. (This way, both groups got two injections.)

The main goal of the trial was to see whether the combination vaccine generated more antibodies in blood samples than the current shots against multiple strains of influenza and the XBB.1.5 Covid variant. This so-called serological testing is a common way for researchers to gauge how well a vaccine shot might work and how long the protection might last.

The trial found that antibody levels were higher for Covid and all but one influenza strain in people who got the combination vaccine, compared to those who got the existing shots in both groups.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-n ... rcna205242

[firestar464]

[weatheriscool]