mRNA Vaccines — Copying the Master!
Living things are the most amazingly built factories. There are millions of biological pathways quietly doing their encoded job like a well trained machine from the minute we are conceived! Hint: No training period :)
One such mechanism modulates everything from how we look to our state of health. What we all know as genes and DNA have a precisely scripted way to move their information into a messenger RNA which then builds proteins which then are good to go to run, maintain and grow the human system. One of the elite jobs of proteins in the body is immunity; possibly the sexiest job in the protein world.
Now that we know how nature intended it to be let us see how scientists found a way to tap into it without reinventing the wheel - mRNA vaccines!
Vaccines traditionally have meant mimicking an infection. By injecting a weakened pathogen or parts of it to “introduce” to the immunity what might come its way later so it can remember who the potential enemy is and prepare to fight. Whereas with mRNA vaccine, we teach our cells how to make a protein from the pathogen — or even just a piece like the signature spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 — that triggers an immune response inside our bodies. That immune response, which produces antibodies, is what we call immunity which is prepared for action if and when the time comes to launch an attack. The simplest analogy is teaching to fish instead of handing a fish.
There is an interesting fact about mRNAs which made this vaccine possible. They work inside the cells to build the spike protein but outside of our DNA temple - nucleus. They are not allowed back inside to interact with DNA and mess around with the blueprint of our existence (thankfully). Also mRNA gets destroyed by our body’s housekeeping actions once they finish in a few hours. This unidirectional and transient nature of mRNA makes them an excellent candidate to intervene immunity and make it work as we want. Ponder for a moment the complexity of micro and nano level series of events that begin and end like clockwork for this pathway to work. It is a perfect example of modular design by nature.
By appreciating the intricacies of human life and layers of systems at work within, we can carefully yet curiously unlock the limitless possibilities of therapy and health.
Considering the sophistication called immune system already had the answers within, mRNA therapeutics will be old medicine in new bottle. Yet, for one main reason, the credit is due to modern science combined with the technology of computational biology, mRNA sequence builders and sleek delivery mechanisms — Mimicking a master piece done just right!
