Research News

 

Professor Shawn Chen Xiaoyuan, Nasrat Muzayyin Professor in Medicine and Technology, and Director of the Nanomedicine Translational Research Programme at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine), and a team of researchers, have developed potent yet low-inflammatory mRNA cancer vaccine vectors-; non-harmful vehicles that deliver the DNA instructions into cells, which in turn trigger protective immunity against the cancer cells. Instead of LNPs, they applied polymers as the carrier for cancer mRNA vaccines. As carriers, these polymers can similarly deliver vaccine antigens, proteins, and drugs to the site of action, with lower inflammatory responses. With similar functions in vaccines, polymers have a larger molecular weight than lipids, and preclinical studies in the paper suggested that the polymers did not show difference in safety levels. Currently, the research team is working on optimizing the performance of the polymeric carrier. Its lead structure would be subjected to further studies and clinical translation in the next 18 to 24 months.