About this Research Topic

Background

The year 2020 marked a turning point in medicine, not only because it was the year of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, but also because in the same year, and for the first time in history, the Western drug regulatory agencies authorized the emergency use of nucleoside-modified mRNA(modRNA), embedded in liquid nanoparticles as COVID-19 vaccines, hitherto never approved for ethical reasons.

About 30 years had passed since Malone, Felgner and Verma of the Salk institute in San Diego succeeded in the feat of transfecting Photinus pyrais luciferase mRNA into mouse cells by exploiting lipofectin, an innovative liposome for the era. The researchers also noted that the translation of this mRNA could be affected by minor structural changes of the transcripts, paving the way for nucleoside modification.

In 1993 liposome-incorporated mRNA encoding a viral antigen was proven to induce specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes in recipient mice; the same technique was then applied to mice to elicit both cellular and humoral responses against a viral or tumor antigen. The first human clinical trial using autologous dendritic cells transfected with mRNA encoding tumor antigen dates back to 2001-2002; four years later, nucleoside modification was shown to be an effective biotechnology in avoiding the hyperactivation of the innate immune system by Toll-like receptors. The first human clinical trial against an infectious agent (Rabies lyssavirus) began in 2013; over the next few years, clinical trials of mRNA vaccines for other viruses were started, among which Influenza virus, Chikungunya virus and Zika virus.

This Research Topic aims to explore the current and potential fields of modRNA application in an interdisciplinary approach, such as vaccinology, cancer therapy, regenerative medicine (including the regeneration of damaged heart muscle tissue), rare diseases and genetically determined illnesses.

Keywords: Coronavirus Disease 2019( COVID-19), COVID-19 vaccine, messenger RNA (mRNA), nucleoside-modified mRNA (modRNA), nanoparticles, liposome, virus, tumor, cancer therapy, regenerative medicine, rare diseases.

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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