The focus of a recent study is inhalation genetic therapy to give patients with Cystic Fibrosis relief when they breathe. A defective gene in people with Cystic Fibrosis causes a mucus build-up in specific organs. The respiratory complications due to mucus build-up in the lungs are which infections, clogged airways, inflammation, and respiratory failure.
Recently, scientists developed a study that involves mice inhaling messenger RNA. The messenger ribonucleic acid is genetically manipulated so that it contains an oxidative enzyme called “luciferase”, which is known for causing bioluminescence. Scientists manipulated the mRNA by “packaging” or combining the enzyme with a polymer that would be inhaled into the lungs of the mice. The inhaled polymer would then travel through the respiratory system and be taken in by the lungs, where it would eventually be broken down by cells within the lungs. Scientists were able to distinguish if the experiment was successful as the light from the luciferase combined with the mRNA could be detected from within a lung cell.
Another experiment was conducted with similar circumstances in that it tested genetically modified mice cells that glowed red from the cell’s reception of mRNA. This offered the scientists the opportunity to test a range of mRNA-polymer dosages to quantify or count the resulting “red” mice cells.
As we continue this road down modern medicine, mRNA can be evolutionary for patients with Cystic Fibrosis because the messenger RNA can recreate functional copies of itself to produce CFTR protein (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator protein), which is the protein that codes and determines the functionality of the CFTR gene. Could mRNA polymers possibly be a treatment for milder respiratory issues like asthma? This experiment might just be a breakthrough in the world of medicine, as strands of ribonucleic acid could be the answer to ending compromising respiratory complications.
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