New mRNA vaccine technology is making waves these days because COVID-19 photos based on it offer unmatched effectiveness over other platforms. One of the successful photos, Comirnaty (BNT162b2), was developed with BioNTech technology and is launched in the US and EU.
Now the CEO of BioNTech, Ugur Sahin, MD, Ph.D., has led new research showing that an mRNA vaccine could also work in multiple sclerosis (MS).
In several models of MS mice, Sahin’s team showed that an mRNA vaccine encoding a disease-related autoantigen successfully relieved the symptoms of MS in sick animals and prevented the progression of the disease in rodents with early signs of MS. The results were published in Science.
MS occurs when the immune system incorrectly attacks the protective myelin sheath that covers nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Existing treatments work by systemically suppressing the immune system. This can control MS, but also leaves patients vulnerable to infections.
Sahin, along with colleagues at BioNTech and scientists at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, hypothesized that an mRNA vaccine could work in a specific way to help the immune system tolerate specific MS-related proteins without compromising normal immune function.
The team came up with an mRNA candidate who wrapped the genetic information encoding auto-antigens that cause MS into fatty substances. A similar lipid nanoparticle is used in Comirnaty to protect the COVID-19 mRNA material until it reaches the target cells, where it produces the antigenic protein.
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In mice with autoimmune encephalomyelitis, a model for human MS, the team found that the vaccine was processed by cells with lymphoid antigen without triggering a systemic inflammatory immune response, even when administered at very high antigen concentrations. It did not affect the animals’ ability to launch a protective immune response.
The vaccine blocked all clinical signs of MS in mice, while control animals showed typical symptoms of the disease. In mice that started the mRNA vaccine when small signs of disease, such as tail paralysis, were observed, treatment prevented disease progression and restored motor function, the team reported.
In treated mice, the researchers observed lower levels of infiltrating and antigen-specific CD4 + T cells in the brain and spinal cord, and spleen T cells showed low expression of certain markers that are critical for immune cells to enter the nervous system. central.
Moreover, treatment led to the expansion of regulatory T cells or Treg cells. This is important because MS is a complex disease in which specific autoantigens may differ from patient to patient. But Treg cells offer a “more general tolerance,” which suppresses T cells against other antigens in inflamed tissue, the researchers explained in the paper.
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MRNA technology is appreciated as a revolution in the vaccine space. Comirnaty, partnered with Pfizer at BioNTech, demonstrated 95% efficacy in preventing COVID-19 in its phase 3 study, leading an industry observer to predict that success will “open the door” for mRNA application. , especially in infectious diseases.
Sahin originally founded BioNTech to translate the idea of mRNA into cancer immunotherapy, but the company raised the COVID-19 challenge amid the pandemic. Now, Sahin and colleagues believe that their research shows that mRNA vaccines are also promising in treating MS.
As COVID-19 has shown, mRNA vaccines can be designed rapidly, and mRNA can encode virtually any autoantigen. “Thus, the adaptation of treatment for disease-causing antigens of individual patients is designed, similar to that which has been successfully performed in personalized cancer vaccines,” the researchers wrote in the study. The combination of mRNA can allow the control of even more complex autoimmune diseases, they suggested.