TY - JOUR T1 - mRNA technology showing promise for range of diseases: COVID-19 vaccine spurs more research JF - The Nation's Health JO - Nations Health SP - 1 LP - 8 VL - 51 IS - 4 AU - Mark Barna Y1 - 2021/06/01 UR - http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/51/4/1.2.abstract N2 - A medical worker unfrosts a vial of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in Liege, Belgium, in January. The messenger RNA technology used to create the vaccine is being investigated for potential use for a wide range of public health applications.Photo by Vincent Kalut, courtesy Photonews/Getty ImagesThe success of two messenger RNA vaccines in the U.S. to fight COVID-19 has spurred excitement in both public health and medical circles. But the virus is not the only threat being targeted by the technology: Researchers are also working to harness mRNA science to fight malaria, Ebola, Zika, HIV, influenza and even cancer.“I do not see any major limitation specific for mRNA vaccines,” said Norbert Pardi, PhD, an mRNA vaccine specialist at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. “Multiple published studies demonstrated that mRNA vaccines are equal or even superior to other vaccine types.”Two COVID-19 vaccines were authorized for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration in December, with more than 190 million doses administered to U.S. adults as of mid-April. The vaccines use messenger RNA to instruct cells to make a spike protein, prompting the human immune response to make antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.“It is important to note that mRNA cannot change our genetic material and it is non-infectious, so it cannot cause disease,” Pardi told The Nation’s Health. “They have proved to be safe and very effective.”A major reason mRNA technology has captured the scientific imagination is the speed at which it can produce results. This was shown last year with … ER -