How development of mRNA vaccines will help tackle incurable diseases in future

코로나로 mRNA 백신 개발 물꼬...암 에이즈 백신 나올까

COVID-19 appears... to have accelerated... the broader adoption... of mRNA technology... in vaccine development.
Cho Sung-min has more... on the profound implications... of this reality.
While the emergence of COVID-19 has brought significant drawbacks and changes to daily life, it has allowed science to make drastic leaps forward in mRNA vaccine development.
Using molecules called "messenger RNA" instead of the actual virus or bacteria to induce an immune response, has been a work in progress since the 1990s.
And mRNA vaccines weren't considered to be a reliable option until Pfizer and Moderna commercialized their own for the first time in 2020.

Since then, remarkable progress has been made, opening the door for breakthroughs in treatments for incurable illnesses and conditions like cancer and AIDS.
A research team at Duke University in the United States is seeing encouraging results from its new mRNA vaccine in treating breast cancer.
Last year, other mRNA research in the U.S. showed an eighty percent efficacy rate against AIDS.

In the case of the developments in South Korea, drug makers like ST Pharm and Eyegene are looking for breakthroughs of their own,... based on their knowhow and experience with mRNA vaccines over the last couple of years.
ST Pharm plans to conduct a non-clinical trial on their mRNA cancer vaccines,...while Eyegene has unveiled a roadmap to develop an mRNA vaccine to cure pancreatic cancer.

"With the mRNA platform, you only need to replace the nuclear sequence in the middle, according to whatever new viruses emerge like Zika, AIDS or a new pandemic."

While experts are concerned that mRNA vaccines show a higher rate of side effects than the more conventional vaccination methods,...they all agree that South Korea should invest in them heavily,... as it could be a game-changer in being able to treat various incurable diseases in the future.
Cho Sung-min, Arirang News.

#COVID19 #mRNA #vaccine