RNA

Researchers have conducted the first human trials of a new drug, lepodisiran, and found that a single injection reduced lipoprotein(a) – a ‘bad’ cholesterol with a genetic basis and no available treatments – to undetectable levels for almost a year.

Researchers investigating the genetics underlying the airway inflammation seen in severe asthma have, for the first time, discovered that proteins that bind to RNA are dysregulated, driving changes in gene expression in cells that line the airways.

Researchers have found that remnants left over after a cell divides contain RNA that, when taken up by other cells, can spread cancer’s genetic blueprint. The finding opens the door to harnessing this mechanism as a way of treating cancer.

The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to biochemist Katalin Karikó and immunologist Drew Weissman for discoveries that enabled the development of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.

Scientists have successfully extracted RNA from an extinct species for the first time. This was achieved in the thylacine, a species of carnivorous marsupial that roamed Australia until a century ago – and may again one day, if current plans bear fruit.

Researchers have gained new insights into largely overlooked circular RNAs in brain cells and the crucial role they play in diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, opening the door to developing diagnostic tests and treatments for them.

A study has found that the virus that causes COVID-19 damages the genes of the mitochondria, the cell’s energy generators, causing dysfunction in organs other than the lungs that continues after the lungs have recovered, which may explain long COVID.

RNA therapies are emerging as a promising treatment for cancer. Now, scientists at Tel Aviv University have demonstrated a way to use RNA drugs to treat multiple myeloma, a hard-to-reach cancer that forms deep in bone tissue.

Caltech scientists have developed a new hybrid vaccine that combines mRNA and protein nanoparticles. In mouse tests, the prototype produced five times more antibodies than existing COVID-19 vaccines, and could be used against a range of diseases.

Scientists have developed a new potential treatment for cancer that works in a similar way to the COVID-19 vaccines. The technique involves delivering mRNA molecules to cancer cells and tricking them into producing toxic proteins that kill the tumors.

Researchers have designed a new nanoparticle that was shown to more effectively deliver a cancer-fighting mRNA vaccine to mice. The study’s results may lead to the development of better vaccines to treat cancer and infectious diseases like COVID-19.

Researchers have just uncovered how the influenza A virus is able to thrive by slicing and dicing genetic material inside our cells while keeping itself intact. The finding might arm researchers with a new way to fight the virus.