Modified mRNA (Karikó and Weissman)
Swapping one building block of lab-made mRNA for a modified one stopped the body from attacking it, which made mRNA usable as a medicine; the work won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Open in the interactive tree →Before 2005, mRNA made in the lab set off strong inflammation when it was injected. Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman reported in the journal Immunity in August 2005 that replacing uridine with pseudouridine largely hid the mRNA from the immune system (Nature and Science had turned the work down), and later papers in 2008 and 2010 showed that such mRNA also makes more protein. The COVID-19 vaccines of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, authorised in December 2020, use mRNA with a modified building block (N1-methylpseudouridine) wrapped in lipid nanoparticles, fat bubbles that regulators had first approved as a drug carrier in 2018.
Prerequisites
- Gene Regulation (Operon)1961Messenger RNA, the molecule being used as a medicine, was found here.
- The Genetic Code1966Designing an mRNA that makes a chosen protein relies on the codon code.
- Genetic Engineering1973Lab-made mRNA is copied from a DNA template built by gene technology.
Unlocks
- mRNA Technology2020Modified building blocks hide mRNA from the immune system, so it works as a vaccine.