Nucleoside-modified messenger RNA

To achieve this goal, however, one must bypass cellular systems that prevent the penetration and translation of foreign mRNA.

[11] Inclusion of these modified nucleosides alters the secondary structure of the mRNA, which can reduce recognition by the innate immune system while still allowing effective translation.

The two UTRs at their strand ends are essential for the stability of an mRNA and also of a modRNA as well as for the efficiency of translation, i.e. for the amount of protein produced.

This is useful, for example, when used in vaccines, as nanoparticles are taken up by dendritic cells and macrophages, both of which play an important role in activating the immune system.

[17] Another milestone was achieved by demonstrating the life-saving efficacy of nucleoside modified mRNA in a mouse model of a lethal lung disease by the team of Kormann and others in 2011.

[31][32][33] The zorecimeran vaccine developed by Curevac, however, uses unmodified mRNA,[34] instead relying on codon optimization to minimize the presence of uridine.

[35][16] Other possible uses of modRNA include the regeneration of damaged heart muscle tissue,[36][37] an enzyme-replacement tool[38] and cancer therapy.

A ribosome (depicted in green) creates a protein (depicted here as a string of beads representing amino acids ) encoded in an mRNA (depicted as a ribbon of nucleotides ) that may be modified to reduce inflammation in the cell.
Comparing uptake of RNA and modRNA by the cell