1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey brainstuffe 2 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:11,760 Speaker 1: Lauren Bogobam here. For decades, researchers have dreamed about harnessing 3 00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:15,400 Speaker 1: the power of genetic technology to prevent or treat a 4 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:18,880 Speaker 1: range of diseases. A synthetic version of a molecule in 5 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:23,160 Speaker 1: the human body known as messenger ribonucleic acid or m 6 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:27,479 Speaker 1: RNA held that promise. Just how to make it work 7 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:31,440 Speaker 1: presented daunting challenges that much of the science community thought 8 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:34,640 Speaker 1: was a mountain too hide a climb, But a handful 9 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:38,239 Speaker 1: of researchers didn't give up. They spent years trying to 10 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:42,159 Speaker 1: solve the mystery of m RNA. Then, just like a 11 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:45,320 Speaker 1: made for TV movie, but very much real, they cracked 12 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:47,959 Speaker 1: the code just in time to save the world from 13 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:53,920 Speaker 1: the deadly novel coronavirus. M RNA vaccines work by delivering 14 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:57,680 Speaker 1: instructions to cells that empower those cells to produce antigens, 15 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 1: which are molecules that prompt and i'm une system response 16 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:05,039 Speaker 1: in your body, which includes your immune system creating antibodies 17 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:08,920 Speaker 1: that can identify and fight an invader like the coronavirus. 18 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:14,320 Speaker 1: But let's unpack all of that to understand mr Anda 19 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 1: vaccine technology and how it's being used to protect us 20 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: from COVID nineteen. We need to talk about proteins. Proteins 21 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:26,000 Speaker 1: are often referred to as the building blocks of life. 22 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:30,120 Speaker 1: They're posential for the structure, function, and regulation of the 23 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:34,120 Speaker 1: body's tissues and organs. Every cell in your body contains 24 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:37,640 Speaker 1: tens of thousands of distinct proteins, each of which is 25 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:40,759 Speaker 1: made up of several types of amino acids that attached 26 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:43,760 Speaker 1: to each other to create chains of varying lengths that 27 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:47,880 Speaker 1: fold into various shapes. Proteins shape has a great deal 28 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:52,840 Speaker 1: to do with its function. Some proteins regulate specific processes 29 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:57,880 Speaker 1: within a cell, like growth, development, metabolism, and reproduction. Some 30 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 1: proteins act as biological atalysts to help the body build muscle, 31 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 1: destroy toxins, and break down food particles during digestion. Other 32 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:11,000 Speaker 1: proteins are antibodies that let the immune system fight infections 33 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:15,600 Speaker 1: and clear out harmful pathogens. The cells are assigned their 34 00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:19,480 Speaker 1: amino acid sequences and thus told the function of their 35 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:25,639 Speaker 1: proteins via the body's messenger RNA or mRNA. You can 36 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:29,799 Speaker 1: think of this process like a spy mission. mRNA hands 37 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:33,320 Speaker 1: the cell instructions to make a certain protein. Once the 38 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:36,640 Speaker 1: cell makes its protein, the cell destroys the instructions and 39 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:41,040 Speaker 1: then goes to work manufacturing that specific protein. A few 40 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:44,600 Speaker 1: researchers began to wonder what if science could develop a 41 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:48,560 Speaker 1: synthetic mRNA with a specific coding sequence that could be 42 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:51,600 Speaker 1: delivered to the body and instruct cells to create any 43 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:56,320 Speaker 1: type of protein, growth agents to repair damaged tissues, enzymes 44 00:02:56,360 --> 00:03:00,880 Speaker 1: to cure rear diseases, or antibodies to protect at infection. 45 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 1: In n A group of University of Wisconsin researchers actually 46 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:12,320 Speaker 1: succeeded in making synthetic mRNA and tested it in laboratory mice. Unfortunately, 47 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:16,280 Speaker 1: that synthetic mRNA was identified by the mice's immune systems 48 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:19,400 Speaker 1: as an invader and was destroyed before ever reaching the 49 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:23,080 Speaker 1: target cell to deliver the coded message. Many in the 50 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:26,160 Speaker 1: scientific world saw this as a fatal flaw and turned 51 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:30,200 Speaker 1: their attentions elsewhere, but two researchers at the University of 52 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:33,280 Speaker 1: Pennsylvania set out to find a way to make mRNA 53 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:37,760 Speaker 1: more stable. In two thousand five, after a decade of 54 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:41,600 Speaker 1: painstaking research, they discovered that they could use tiny balls 55 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: of fat called lipid nanoparticles or LPNs to protect the 56 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:51,520 Speaker 1: synthetic mRNA. This gave the fragile molecule stealth like qualities 57 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:56,000 Speaker 1: that enabled it to escape the immune systems radar. With 58 00:03:56,080 --> 00:04:00,040 Speaker 1: this tool in hand, more research followed. In twenty in 59 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 1: the Cambridge, Massachusetts based pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Maderna Incorporated 60 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:10,160 Speaker 1: was founded to focus specifically on mr anda vaccine technologies. 61 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:15,240 Speaker 1: The name Maderna comes from combining the words modified and RNA. 62 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:19,040 Speaker 1: And Meanwhile, back in two thousand eight, German based bio 63 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:24,200 Speaker 1: n Tech short for Biopharmaceutical New Technologies, had been founded 64 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:31,040 Speaker 1: to develop pharmaceutical cancer immunotherapy candidates using mRNA technology. In 65 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:34,799 Speaker 1: the company partnered with US based Visor Incorporated to develop 66 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:39,599 Speaker 1: mRNA based flu vaccines, and then the world was hit 67 00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:44,359 Speaker 1: by a pandemic. Researchers everywhere began directing all their efforts 68 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:48,680 Speaker 1: toward developing a vaccine for the novel coronavirus. And all 69 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:51,320 Speaker 1: of this research that had come before is part of 70 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:56,760 Speaker 1: how mRNA vaccines got approved so fast. Let's talk about viruses. 71 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 1: Viruses cannot reproduce on their own. They need to infect 72 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:03,520 Speaker 1: a host cell in a creature's body to begin the 73 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:06,920 Speaker 1: process which can make the creature sick. A for an 74 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:11,440 Speaker 1: mRNA vaccine for COVID nineteen to work, researchers needed to 75 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:16,120 Speaker 1: know which protein the virus was using to attack host cells, 76 00:05:16,279 --> 00:05:20,599 Speaker 1: and for that they needed to crack COVID nineteen's genetic code. 77 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:24,320 Speaker 1: This process was simplified because the virus that causes COVID 78 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 1: nineteen was similar to two other coronaviruses that had previously 79 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:34,839 Speaker 1: infected humans, mers and stars. By December thirty one, twenty nineteen, 80 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:38,880 Speaker 1: when China first reported pneumonia like infections from some kind 81 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:42,760 Speaker 1: of virus or group of similar viruses, Chinese researchers were 82 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:47,000 Speaker 1: already working to map the virus is genetic code. About 83 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:51,080 Speaker 1: two weeks later, on January twelve, they released the gene 84 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:55,760 Speaker 1: sequence data. This gave researchers everywhere the ammunition to start 85 00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:58,960 Speaker 1: on a vaccine. For the article, this episode is based 86 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:01,440 Speaker 1: on How Stuff Works Folk with Paul Geptford, m D, 87 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 1: Professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham 88 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:09,559 Speaker 1: and an expert in vaccine design. He said, we knew 89 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:12,880 Speaker 1: that the spike protein was the Achilles heel. M RNA 90 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:16,680 Speaker 1: vaccines are amenable to very rapid development. We got kind 91 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:19,919 Speaker 1: of lucky from that aspect. A week later, Maderna and 92 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:24,120 Speaker 1: Fightser made their vaccines. The companies were then able to 93 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:28,360 Speaker 1: propel ahead of drug companies developing traditional vaccines and move 94 00:06:28,480 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: quickly into animal testing, and shortly thereafter human trials began. 95 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 1: Both the Maderna and Fightser bio n tech vaccines are 96 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:41,080 Speaker 1: performing surprisingly well, and studies have shown that a full 97 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:47,200 Speaker 1: double dose of Fiser's or Maderna's vaccine provides and protection 98 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 1: against the original virus, respectively. Yet barely half of all 99 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:55,799 Speaker 1: Americans are fully vaccinated. Getfort said. One of the reasons 100 00:06:55,839 --> 00:06:59,400 Speaker 1: for vaccine hesitancy is that people have this misunderstanding that 101 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:03,000 Speaker 1: mrn A covid vaccines were developed so quickly and that 102 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: in doing so we skipped safety evaluation, which is not 103 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:10,160 Speaker 1: true at all. This vaccine has been tested on incredible 104 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 1: numbers of people, and it actually underwent the normal safety 105 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:17,600 Speaker 1: testing of any products, and now that it's under emergency 106 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:21,920 Speaker 1: use authorization, we have millions more safety data, actually more 107 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:24,760 Speaker 1: than any other product that we've had for a vaccine. 108 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:29,360 Speaker 1: These mr ANDA vaccines work so well because they induce 109 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:33,680 Speaker 1: multiple arms of defense in the immune system, Giptford explained. 110 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:37,640 Speaker 1: They induce the neutralization of antibodies, which I think of 111 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:40,920 Speaker 1: as spears because they can knock out the virus before 112 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:46,000 Speaker 1: you even get infected. They induce functional antibodies, which utilize 113 00:07:46,040 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 1: cells to be more effective, and they induce T cell responses, 114 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:55,440 Speaker 1: both helper and killer cell responses, which are extremely important. 115 00:07:55,440 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 1: T cells help prevent severe disease and death. Traditional evact 116 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:04,680 Speaker 1: scenes also create neutralizing antibodies and induce antibody responses, but 117 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:09,680 Speaker 1: aren't as good inducing T cell responses. So what does 118 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:13,920 Speaker 1: the future hold for mRNA technology. This is likely just 119 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: the beginning. Back in two, clinical trials were already underway 120 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:25,040 Speaker 1: to test mRNA vaccines against several infectious diseases, including HIV, influenza, zica, 121 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:29,320 Speaker 1: and rabies. Other research is testing whether m RNA technology 122 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:33,559 Speaker 1: could prevent cancer from recurring. It turns out that mRNA 123 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:36,920 Speaker 1: vaccines can target almost any pathogen as long as you 124 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:40,520 Speaker 1: code for the right protein to stimulate the right immune response. 125 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:45,599 Speaker 1: That means scientists the diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, 126 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:49,040 Speaker 1: and cystic fibrosis could all be prevented in the future 127 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:55,240 Speaker 1: with mRNA vaccines. Getfort said, these vaccines are remarkable even 128 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:58,320 Speaker 1: an older adults. They work really, really well, which is 129 00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:01,640 Speaker 1: unusual for most any vaccine that we have, so that's 130 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:09,400 Speaker 1: just remarkable. Today's episode is based on the article will 131 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:13,560 Speaker 1: m RNA technology transform medicine beyond COVID nineteen on how 132 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:16,880 Speaker 1: stuff Works dot Com, written by Jennifer Walker. Journey brain 133 00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:19,040 Speaker 1: Stuff is production of I Heart Radio in partnership with 134 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:22,240 Speaker 1: HowStuffWorks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Clang. Four 135 00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:25,320 Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio visit the heart Radio app, 136 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:28,199 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.