Liposomes and mRNA: Two technologies together create a COVID-19 vaccine
Gregory Gregoriadis
Abstract
The urgency to understand and modify immune responses has never been as great universally as during the present Coronavirus time. It has been suggested that using established techniques, a small piece of the so-called spike protein of the Coronavirus injected into humans in the form of mRNA could raise an immune response against the expressed protein, in turn killing or inactivating the invading Coronavirus. Unfortunately, however, the mRNA was found to be too vulnerable to survive in the body long enough on injection to produce the spike protein and an immune response to it. But as it happens, a solution was to hand, one waiting to be discovered.
Topics & Concepts
CoronavirusImmune systemMessenger RNASevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirusSpike ProteinCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)BiologySpike (software development)Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)Virology2019-20 coronavirus outbreakCell biologyImmunologyMedicineComputer scienceGeneticsGeneOutbreakInfectious disease (medical specialty)PathologyDiseaseSoftware engineeringRNA Interference and Gene DeliveryImmunotherapy and Immune ResponsesSARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research