Synthetic mRNA has been considered as a promising biotherapeutic agent for past decades. During SARS-CoV2 pandemic, the emergence of the mRNA vaccine increased interest in synthetic mRNA. In vitro transcribed (IVT) mRNA, called synthetic mRNA, has sev...
Synthetic mRNA has been considered as a promising biotherapeutic agent for past decades. During SARS-CoV2 pandemic, the emergence of the mRNA vaccine increased interest in synthetic mRNA. In vitro transcribed (IVT) mRNA, called synthetic mRNA, has several advantages over conventional gene expression systems such as plasmid DNA. It can translate protein in cytoplasm by structurally resembling natural mRNA, and exhibit various protein expression patterns depending on how it is engineered. Another advantage is that synthetic mRNA enables fast, scalable, cost-effective production, allowing to the successful development of SARS-CoV2 mRNA vaccines at unprecedented speed in the history. Starting with SARS-CoV2 mRNA vaccines, IVT mRNA is expected to be used for various fields of gene therapies.
This study is about development of IVT mRNA synthesis methods and application for therapeutic protein expressions. This study is consisted of two parts. The first is to develop IVT mRNA synthesis methods capable of exhibiting sufficient protein expression efficacy by reducing innate immunogenicity. The second is to apply IVT mRNA to the expression of various therapeutic proteins based on the previously developed IVT mRNA synthesis method. In order to inhibit unfavorable innate immune response occurred by IVT mRNA, modified nucleosides and cellulose purification were used in this study. Next, IVT mRNA encoding the target protein sequence was synthesized according to the established synthesis methods. The target proteins were selected for three purposes. PDX1 and TAZ for type I diabetes mellitus, RUNX2 for osteoporosis, and p-22 FLIP and TRIM56 for chronic type B hepatitis were selected for therapeutic purposes. It was confirmed that all of the IVT mRNA were translated to the target proteins in vitro. Therefore, this study provides IVT mRNA synthesis method capable of expressing various target proteins.