Journal of Vaccine Research 2024, Vol.14, No.6, 316-323 http://medscipublisher.com/index.php/jvr 317 With reference to the latest technical advancements, the results of clinical trials and the most pressing issues to be tackled, in this paper, the current status and future development direction of mRNA technology in vaccine manufacturing are completely elaborated. The mRNA vaccines have also become the focus of the latest study owing to their potential breakthrough role in treating infectious diseases and other fields of medicine (e.g., cancer treatment). An intimate understanding of the unique strengths and limitations of mRNA vaccines is central to encouraging technological innovation, improving vaccine design techniques, and accelerating their international adoption in the health care system. 2 Fundamental Principles and Technical Characteristics of mRNA Vaccines 2.1 Molecular structure and mechanism of action of mRNA mRNA vaccines use messenger RNA (mRNA) to tell cells to produce certain proteins, generating an immune response. mRNA is a single-stranded molecule that carries genetic information from DNA to ribosomes, where proteins are synthesized. The mRNA used in vaccines is commonly designed to increase their stability and translation efficiency, enabling efficient production of encoded proteins in host cells (Liang et al., 2021). Upon delivery into the cell, the mRNA is translated from the ribosome to the antigen of interest, and it is displayed on the cell surface, triggering an immune response. 2.2 Immune mechanism of mRNA vaccines mRNA vaccines can induce humoral immunity and cellular immune responses. After inoculation, mRNA is absorbed by antigen-presenting cells (APCs) such as dendritic cells that translate the mRNA into target antigens and present it to the cell surface through the main histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules. This process activates T cells, thereby triggering a powerful adaptive immune response (Maruggi et al., 2019). In addition, mRNA itself can act as an adjuvant to enhance the activation of innate immunity by stimulating pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), thereby further promoting the formation of a strong adaptive immune response (Iavarone et al., 2017) (Figure 1). Figure 1 Cellular and humoral immune responses induced by mRNA vaccine (Adopted from Am, 2023) 2.3 Technical advantages of delivery systems and platform-based production mRNA vaccine delivery relies on a variety of vectors, such as lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), which protect mRNA from degradation and increase cell uptake efficiency. Such delivery modes are critical to mRNA vaccine stability and efficacy (Xu et al., 2020). Additionally, platform-based mRNA vaccine production has several technical advantages, for instance, rapid development and easy production in bulk. Its production process is highly versatile and the vaccine can be readily modified to react to different pathogens without significant alteration at large scale. This is especially important in the response to emerging infectious diseases because it enables the quick design and deployment of new vaccines.
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