Timeline milestone
Modified nucleosides reduce immune activation
From The mRNA Journey: From Fragile Molecule to Programmable Medicine
-
Breakthrough
Modified nucleosides reduce immune activation
Karikó and Weissman made synthetic mRNA less inflammatory, addressing a central obstacle.
NHGRI / NIH Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman found that swapping one of the four chemical building blocks in synthetic mRNA, called nucleosides, with a modified version let the molecule slip past the immune system's alarm sensors almost unnoticed. Unmodified synthetic mRNA had been triggering inflammation severe enough to make it impractical as a medicine. This single substitution removed that obstacle, and became the technical foundation every mRNA vaccine developed since, including the COVID-19 vaccines, was built on.
Sources & references 1 source
