The past few decades have evolved nucleic acids from natural genetic materials to synthetic structural biomaterials and functional theranostics and vaccines. By leveraging the precise programmability, nucleic acids have been widely explored as structural building blocks to engineer a wide variety of nanostructures, nanomedicines, as well as carriers for data storage. On the other side, nucleic acid therapeutics and vaccines, such as antisense oligonucleotides (ASO), siRNA, miRNA, aptamer, plasmids, mRNA therapeutics and vaccines, and immunomodulatory nucleic acids, are poised to be the next generation of medicine next to small molecule drugs and biologics therapeutics. Moreover, the success of nucleic acid therapeutics and vaccines is highly dependent on the delivery systems, as indicated by the key role of lipid nanoparticles in current COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. Therefore, the advancement of biomaterial science and engineering has played a pivotal role in the development of nucleic acid therapeutics and vaccines.
The aim of this Research Topic is to describe the most recent advances in the field of nucleic acid theranostics and vaccines. We welcome Original Research papers, Perspectives and Review articles focusing on but not limited to the following subtopics:
• Aptamer selection and engineering, and construction of targeted systems for drug delivery, cellular delivery, endosomal escape and cytosolic penetration, and nucleus delivery.
• Nucleic acid nanotechnology and nanomedicine
• mRNA therapeutics and vaccines
• Nucleic acid immunotherapeutics
• Functionalization of oligonucleotides
• Synthetic biomaterials such as lipid nanoparticles (LNP) and biodegradable polymers in the optimization of the pharmacokinetics of nucleic acid therapeutics
The past few decades have evolved nucleic acids from natural genetic materials to synthetic structural biomaterials and functional theranostics and vaccines. By leveraging the precise programmability, nucleic acids have been widely explored as structural building blocks to engineer a wide variety of nanostructures, nanomedicines, as well as carriers for data storage. On the other side, nucleic acid therapeutics and vaccines, such as antisense oligonucleotides (ASO), siRNA, miRNA, aptamer, plasmids, mRNA therapeutics and vaccines, and immunomodulatory nucleic acids, are poised to be the next generation of medicine next to small molecule drugs and biologics therapeutics. Moreover, the success of nucleic acid therapeutics and vaccines is highly dependent on the delivery systems, as indicated by the key role of lipid nanoparticles in current COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. Therefore, the advancement of biomaterial science and engineering has played a pivotal role in the development of nucleic acid therapeutics and vaccines.
The aim of this Research Topic is to describe the most recent advances in the field of nucleic acid theranostics and vaccines. We welcome Original Research papers, Perspectives and Review articles focusing on but not limited to the following subtopics:
• Aptamer selection and engineering, and construction of targeted systems for drug delivery, cellular delivery, endosomal escape and cytosolic penetration, and nucleus delivery.
• Nucleic acid nanotechnology and nanomedicine
• mRNA therapeutics and vaccines
• Nucleic acid immunotherapeutics
• Functionalization of oligonucleotides
• Synthetic biomaterials such as lipid nanoparticles (LNP) and biodegradable polymers in the optimization of the pharmacokinetics of nucleic acid therapeutics
