MRNA Vaccine For Cancer

Around the world, mRNA (messenger RNA) vaccines to prevent COVID-19 have made headlines.

Scientists are also working on mRNA vaccines to treat or prevent other diseases, including some forms of cancer.

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‘To treat melanoma, an mRNA hydrogel vaccine has been developed that slowly released RNA nanovaccines that can shrink the tumors and avoid cancer metastasis.’
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The researchers have developed a hydrogel that, when injected into mice with melanoma, slowly released RNA nanovaccines that can shrink the tumors and avoid metastasis of cancer.

The research is published in the ACS’ Nano Letters.

Similar to mRNA vaccines for COVID-19, cancer immunotherapy vaccines on the activation attack the tumors instead of a virus. Proteins made specifically by tumor cells are encoded by these mRNA vaccines. On coming in contact with a tumor cell, they begin making the tumor protein and displaying it on their surfaces, triggering other immune cells to seek and destroy tumors that also makes this protein.

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A drawback of this is that mRNA is an unstable molecule that is quickly degraded by enzymes in the body. The researchers tried using nanoparticles to protect and deliver mRNA, but they are typically cleared from the body within 1-2 days after injection.

Guangjun Nie, Hai Wang and colleagues wanted to develop a hydrogel which can be injected under the skin and would slowly release mRNA nanoparticles, along with an adjuvant -- a molecule that helps activate the immune system.

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The researchers used ovalbumin (a protein found in chicken egg whites) as a model antigen to develop a suitable system. They mixed ovalbumin mRNA and an adjuvant with other compounds to form a hydrogel which can be injected under the skin of mice with melanoma tumors and slowly released mRNA and adjuvant nanoparticles over a 30-day period. In the treated mice, shrinkage of tumors occurred as mRNA vaccine activated T cells and stimulated antibody production.

The vaccinated mice did not show any metastasis to the lung. The researchers said that the hydrogel has great potential for achieving long-lasting and efficient cancer immunotherapy with only a single treatment.

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Source-Medindia