During the COVID-19 pandemic, messenger RNA became a familiar term for the world. Researchers like Pedro Berraondo from Cima University of Navarra highlight the importance of this technology, which has been used in vaccines such as those from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna to create a protein similar to the spike of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and activate the immune response.
Berraondo mentions that the body creates its own medication through mRNA, which has been proven effective with COVID-19 vaccines. This technology has been crucial in the development of mRNA-based therapies for various diseases, such as acute intermittent porphyria, a rare genetic disease.
Montserrat Plana from the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS) explains that mRNA-based therapeutic vaccines teach the immune system to identify and attack cancer cells through specific neoantigens of each tumor, allowing the vaccine to be personalized for each patient.
Researchers emphasize that these therapies have a high safety profile and do not alter patients' genes. Although they face challenges such as the instability of mRNA, they have been applied in diseases like cancer, rare diseases like cystic fibrosis, and in vaccines for infectious diseases such as influenza and respiratory syncytial virus.
Current research focuses on personalized therapies for cancer, with significant advances in areas like melanoma and pancreatic cancer. Additionally, applications such as adjuvants after tumor removal are being explored to prevent relapses. Messenger RNA technology has proven to be a versatile and promising tool in the field of medicine, enabling the development of more effective and personalized treatments for various diseases.
