COVID-19大流行引起了人们对信使RNA(mRNA)的医学应用的兴趣。预计将应用mRNA,不仅仅是疫苗,还有再生医学。mRNA的纯度对于其医学应用是重要的。然而,目前的mRNA合成技术存在问题,包括不希望的5'-未加帽的mRNA和双链RNA的污染。最近,我们小组开发了一种完全加帽的mRNA合成技术,这有助于mRNA研究的进展。引入化学修饰的核苷,如N1-甲基假尿苷和5-甲基胞苷,Karikó和Weissman报道,为mRNA在疫苗和再生医学中的实际应用开辟了道路。Yamanaka报道了通过使用逆转录病毒载体引入四种类型的基因来产生诱导多能干细胞(iPSC)。iPSCs广泛用于再生医学研究和疾病模型的制备以筛选新的候选药物。在山中因素中,Klf4和c-Myc是癌基因,如果将它们整合到基因组DNA中,则存在肿瘤发展的风险。因此,使用mRNA的再生医学,没有基因组插入的风险,引起了注意。在这次审查中,作者总结了mRNA合成技术及其在再生医学中的应用。
The COVID-19 pandemic generated interest in the medicinal applications of messenger RNA (mRNA). It is expected that mRNA will be applied, not only to vaccines, but also to regenerative medicine. The purity of mRNA is important for its medicinal applications. However, the current mRNA synthesis techniques exhibit problems, including the contamination of undesired 5\'-uncapped mRNA and double-stranded RNA. Recently, our group developed a completely capped mRNA synthesis technology that contributes to the progress of mRNA research. The introduction of chemically modified nucleosides, such as N1-methylpseudouridine and 5-methylcytidine, has been reported by Karikó and Weissman, opening a path for the practical application of mRNA for vaccines and regenerative medicine. Yamanaka reported the production of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) by introducing four types of genes using a retrovirus vector. iPSCs are widely used for research on regenerative medicine and the preparation of disease models to screen new drug candidates. Among the Yamanaka factors, Klf4 and c-Myc are oncogenes, and there is a risk of tumor development if these are integrated into genomic DNA. Therefore, regenerative medicine using mRNA, which poses no risk of genome insertion, has attracted attention. In this review, the author summarizes techniques for synthesizing mRNA and its application in regenerative medicine.