mRNA技术应对病毒传染病的研究进展

信使核糖核酸(messenger RNA,mRNA)疫苗和抗体是近年来兴起的一种新型疫苗和抗体技术。与传统疫苗相比,mRNA疫苗具有安全性高、均衡免疫性好、研发周期短、生产成本低等优势,mRNA抗体比其他形式递送的抗体在体内发挥生物学效应的时间更早也更持久。随着mRNA修饰与递送技术的快速发展,mRNA技术迅速走向成熟,在肿瘤治疗、病毒传染疾病的预防和治疗等方面展现出广阔的应用前景,特别是新型冠状病毒mRNA疫苗以创纪录的速度完成研发并成功应用,为未来mRNA技术的推广铺平了道路。本文综述了mRNA技术领域的重要突破,重点关注mRNA疫苗和抗体在应对病毒传染病中的重大进展,并展望了未来该技术在抗病毒感染领域的研究趋势。

Advancements in mRNA technology-based therapies for infectious diseases

The messenger RNA (mRNA) platform has emerged as a novel nucleic acid technology for the development of vaccines and antibodies in the last decade. mRNA vaccines are superior to conventional vaccines because of safe administration, high potency, short development cycle and low cost of manufacturing. The mRNA-encoded antibodies prevail over other antibody expression platforms because of the high level and long duration of protein expression. Owing to the recent innovations in mRNA modification and delivery, mRNA platform has been developing rapidly and become a promising tool in vaccine development and cancer therapy. It is a miraculous scientific triumph to develop novel mRNA vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which paves the way to a promising future of this field. Here, we overview the ongoing efforts for the optimization of mRNA approaches, with an emphasis on the research progress of mRNA vaccines and mRNA-encoded antibodies for infectious diseases. Furthermore, we put forward the key issues facing the mRNA platform in combating infectious diseases.