When confronted with an infection, the human body reacts in two stages. First, it mounts a rapid defense within minutes or hours; then, in a second stage, it mounts a more targeted response tailored to the specific infection. In other words: the initial reaction is linked to an automatic response and defense mechanism already programmed into the body, which is referred to as innate immunity; whereas the second phase is known as adaptive or acquired immunity, since it is determined in response to the specific infection. In some cases, the body will memorize the defense mechanisms it has adopted, which may even be recorded as innate immunity—as is the case with vaccines.
mRNA Vaccines
It is often said that every cloud has a silver lining; in this case, COVID-19 brought to the forefront vaccines made from RNA molecules, which are defined as follows:
“Messenger ribonucleic acid, messenger RNA, or mRNA (from the English messenger ribonucleic acid), is an intermediate ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecule consisting of a transient copy of a portion of DNA corresponding to one or more genes of a biological organism. mRNA is used by cells as an intermediate in protein synthesis. The concept of messenger RNA was proposed and then demonstrated by André Lwoff, Jacques Monod, François Jacob, and their colleagues at the Pasteur Institute in 1961, for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1965” (Wikipedia).
mRNA—four little letters that would become the focus of extensive research.
A Vaccine for Cancer
Long before these four letters became a household term during the COVID-19 pandemic in the years 2020–2022, many researchers were devoting their efforts to developing cancer vaccines by combining lipid nanoparticles and mRNA—an innovative technique that showed promise in early studies in mice.
While vaccines to prevent infectious diseases train the immune system to recognize and respond to certain viruses or bacteria, the goal of cancer vaccines is to recognize existing malignant cells as invaders, in conjunction with other treatments.
Laboratory research employs what is known as a translational approach, using murine models (mice and rats) and cells derived from human tumor biopsies to develop new treatments, then scale them up, manufacture them, and test them in human clinical trials.
Elias Sayour, M.D., Ph.D., who is a professor of neurosurgery and pediatrics, as well as the principal investigator of the RNA Engineering Laboratory at the Preston A. Wells, Jr. Center for Brain Tumor Therapy and the UF Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Program, has been working for several years to develop the use of lipid nanoparticles to train the immune system to fight cancer. His innovative research on mRNA vaccines has revealed a new way to stimulate the immune system against cancer. It is a meticulous process that requires years of work to complete… and millions of dollars in funding from the government, foundations, and various donors.
Sources: https://explore.research.ufl.edu/igniting-immunity.html – www.wikipedia.org
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