COVID-19 has made messenger RNA (mRNA) the hottest new technology in vaccines.
The first two COVID-19 vaccines available for public use – those from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna – were also the first practical vaccines ever made using mRNA. And both already have been subject to myths and misunderstandings.
One oft-repeated myth is that mRNA amounts to gene therapy or genetic engineering. There’s no evidence for that because mRNA prevents disease by teaching cells how to make a protein, or a piece of protein, that triggers an immune response, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
Because the vaccine does not enter the nucleus of a cell or get turned into DNA, “it’s not getting incorporated into our genome or genetic material,” said Peter Hotez, MD, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development.
Another big myth is that the mRNA technology was rushed into use because of the pandemic. “It’s often pitched as an incredible breakthrough in a few weeks, and that’s not the case,” Dr. Hotez said. “It was built on a decade or more of research showing that the spike protein is a vaccine target and developing first DNA and later RNA as a delivery platform.”
Already, mRNA technology is being studied to create either vaccines or medicines for HIV, rabies, and influenza, and it might be effective against certain cancers, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
But because it’s a relatively new technology, it’s difficult to know yet how it will help fight diseases in the future, Dr. Hotez says.
“In the next pandemic from now, you don’t know – maybe mRNA isn’t going to work as well,” he said. “That’s why you need a diverse array of technologies at play.”
Tex Med. 2021;117(7):48
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