mRNA: History and Significance

mRNA is very critical, and equally critical to DNA. Its main purpose is to give instructions to the cells to produce proteins. These proteins that are produced most often are used to either treat or prevent diseases. mRNA, especially in a medical setting, sends very important instructions to the cells to make proteins and other essential products that ultimately act against diseases. DNA is a double stranded molecule that stores all of the genetic instruction that your body needs to create proteins. These proteins are what regulate nearly every function in the human body. Without mRNA, our bodies would not be able to read this genetic code, which would inhibit the formation of proteins. Hence, your body would not be able to perform any of its vital functions to regulate the body without mRNA. mRNA, plays a very important role in protein synthesis, and without mRNA, all of your body’s functions would not regulate. 

Normal vaccines usually involve injecting small quantities of the virus for the body to learn how to build up the immune response. The mRNA COVID-19 vaccine however, is instead designed such that the mRNA sends the cells a “message” to create something referred to as a “spike protein”, the same protein that clings to the surface of the COVID-19 virus. The cells then destroy and dispose of the mRNA, while the spike protein is pushed to the surface of the cell. The bodily immune cells immediately attack this spike protein because it is foreign, and therefore recognized as harmful. This process allows the immune cells to learn how to build an immune response after recognizing this spike protein, which allows them to be prepared in the event COVID-19 enters the body system. The benefits of these vaccines is that those who are vaccinated are able to build up immunity without facing the severe side effects of the actual infection (CDC). Therefore, mRNA is significant to physiology of humans as well as medical sciences because utilizing mRNA technologies will allow our bodies to build up protection against dangerous infections.