Nucleic Acid Vaccine Platforms

Nucleic acid based vaccines employ the host's own transcriptional and translational machinery to produce a desired pathogen-specific protein by injection of the genetic material (nucleic acid) that encodes only for the desired proteins. The proteins produced can be recognized by the immune system and utilized to generate lasting immunity to protein associated pathogen. nucleic acid vaccines can utilize either DNA or RNA.

mRNA Vaccines

​There are several different vaccine platforms and possibly the hottest topic in vaccine technology and strategies right now is the mRNA (messenger RNA) vaccine. mRNA vaccines are based on delivering genetic material (mRNA) that can be used by the body to generate proteins specific to a pathogen. These proteins are unable to reproduce or generate structures that are infectious. The body will mount a targeted immune response against the proteins produced from the mRNA that should generate antibodies and immune memory to the pathogen the proteins represent. 

mRNA vaccines are promising due to their ability to illicit robust immune responses as well as the ability to be rapidly developed and manufactured at low-cost. However, mRNA is very unstable compared to other genetic materials such as DNA and tends to degrade quickly. The use of lipid coats housing the mRNA appears to be a promising strategy for efficient mRNA delivery without degradation. However, storage and shelf life are still concerns for mRNA based vaccine candidates. These challenges are of particular concern in regions without the infrastructure in place for refrigeration or accessible health care clinics and labs.  

Sources

1. NYT Vax Tracker
2. Faculty of Pharma Med Digest
3. mRNA vaccines - a new era in vaccinology (Pardi et al., nature rev)
4. The promise of nucleic acid vaccines (Restifo et al., Gene Ther)