mRNA Vaccine: The Next Generation Vaccine Revolution in Medical Science & Vaccinology

Abstract

Vaccination is one of the major success stories of modern medicine. It has the ability for reducing the incidence of infectious diseases such as measles, and helps in eradicating others like smallpox. Conventional vaccine approaches have not been as effective against rapidly evolving pathogens like influenza or emerging disease threats such as the Ebola, Zika Viruses or Novel Coronavirus. RNA based vaccines could have an impact in these areas due to their shorter manufacturing times and greater effectiveness. Beyond infectious diseases RNA vaccines have potential as Novel therapeutic options for major disease such as cancer for development of personalized medicine. At the time of epidemic like Ebola or pandemic like 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) mRNA vaccine technology is the most effective way to develop a vaccine at the possible earliest time. As compared to the traditional way of vaccine development, next generation technology for developing vaccine is more essential. A novel pandemic cause by virus has been reported in Wuhan, China; in late December 2019. Within time duration of few weeks, the newly identified virus designated as 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) and it was declared as pandemic by World Health Organization (WHO). At the time of late January 2020, WHO announced it as the international emergency outbreak because of the rapid spread and increases at the global level. There is no any preventive vaccine is present or any approved therapy/treatment for this viral emergency which is very infectious globally. The principle behind RNA vaccine is to use natural mRNA as a data carrier which can give instructions to the human body for the production of its proteins to fight against various diseases. RNA based vaccines provide good safety when it comes to their delivery in the cytoplasm. RNA vaccines comprise as mRNA vaccine which can offer robust safety profile with minimal genetic construction to express the desired antigen. There are few mRNA vaccines which were developed by few Biotechnology companies, showing positive results against COVID-19 and it is there in 4th phase clinical trial which possibly be the first vaccine available in the market in between mid-2021.