Context: Recently a report on mRNA vaccine technology was published by WHO’s Science Council highlighting the potential benefits and limitations of mRNA vaccine technology was released.

Report on mRNA vaccine technology: WHO

• Importance of R&D: The report reveals the importance of research and development (R&D) efforts to COVID-19 mRNA vaccines and outlines the challenges of inequitable access.
• Global distribution: mRNA Global distribution of COVID-19 vaccinations was uneven because of a lack of resources for research and development as well as obstacles pertaining to intellectual property.
• Customized mRNA: The ability to get easily customized, increases their potential as effective personalized therapies with fewer side effects.

About mRNA

• Messenger RNA (abbreviated mRNA) is a type of single-stranded RNA involved in protein synthesis. 
• Formation: mRNA is made from a DNA template during the process of transcription
• Purpose: Messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules carry the coding sequences for protein synthesis and are called transcripts.

Application of mRNA 

• Precisional drugs: It has scope in  preventing and treating many intractable diseases.
  • For Example: mRNAs are used to treat propionic acidaemia, a disease where children have low levels of two liver proteins (which prevents toxic by-products from building up in the body)
• Easy to customize: Easy to customize for any protein, mRNAs can be edited to meet the needs of the patient through targeted drug delivery
• mRNA-based cancer therapeutics: It helps in encoding tumor antigens for cancer vaccines, cytokines for immunotherapy, tumor suppressors to inhibit tumor development.

To Read More about mRNA Vaccines: