The problem: COVID-19 vaccines gave mRNA research a big boost, and scientists have been exploring how it might be used to prevent and treat other diseases. But that’s trickier when it comes to cancer: things that kill cancer cells are generally pretty bad for all cells, and your fatty tissues deliver RNA throughout your body, instead of targeting it.
The solution: Biotech firm Strand Therapeutics has developed a method to “program” mRNA to only release a protein near cancer cells. A genetic circuit (which is like a computer program that uses biological material instead of lines of code) will be triggered by cancerous molecule signatures and produce IL-12, a protein that flags the immune system. If it strays from a cancerous environment, the genetic circuit destroys the mRNA instead.
IL-12 was considered a promising cancer treatment in the 90s, but trials stopped when it caused harsh inflammatory responses throughout the body. Strand will be keeping an eye on if it can keep that response contained to cancer cells when it begins trials in the spring.