Emerging mRNA technologies: delivery strategies and biomedical applications

The great success achieved by the two highly-effective messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the great potential of mRNA technology. Through the evolution of mRNA technology, chemistry has played an important role from mRNA modification to the synthesis of mRNA delivery platforms, which allows various applications of mRNA to be achieved both in vitro and in vivo. In this tutorial review, we provide a summary and discussion on the significant progress of emerging mRNA technologies, as well as the underlying chemical designs and principles. Various nanoparticle (NP)-based delivery strategies including protein-mRNA complex, lipid-based carriers, polymer-based carriers, and hybrid carriers for the efficient delivery of mRNA molecules are presented. Furthermore, typical mRNA delivery platforms for various biomedical applications (e.g., functional protein expression, vaccines, cancer immunotherapy, and genome editing) are highlighted. Finally, our insights into the challenges and future development towards clinical translation of these mRNA technologies are provided.

Automated summary

This article provides an overview of the significant advancements in emerging mRNA technologies, along with the accompanying chemical designs and principles. Various nanoparticle delivery strategies are discussed, and typical mRNA delivery platforms for various biomedical applications are highlighted. The article also offers insights into the challenges and future development of clinical translation for these mRNA technologies.