Scientect

Authors: Akwasi Afrane Bediako & Raymond Ohene Gyan
Affiliation: Faculty of Biosciences, University for Development Studies, Ghana
Date: 26/05/2025

---

Cancer, being one of the dangerous chronic diseases, remains the leading cause of death worldwide, despite advances in technologies for surgical, chemotherapeutic, and radiologic treatment protocols (Bediako et al., 2025). Traditional cancer therapies often lack precision, leading to significant side effects and resistance in higher rate of abnormal cell proliferation.

Messenger RNA (mRNA) immunotherapy has emerged as a transformative approach in recent years, enabling the body to trigger an immune response to combat chronic diseases. Of this exciting development approach, COVID-19 became a global attention in mRNA immunotherapy due to its success in vaccine development to cure the SARS-CoV-2.

This technology has now channelled the attention to the field of oncology for an innovative approach to cancer treatment. mRNA-based cancer immunotherapy sheds light on the mRNA technology approach to render cancer cells foreign, which will trigger the immune response to prevent cancer cells from evading immune killer cells (Wen et al., 2024).

mRNA Immunotherapy Overview

mRNA immunotherapy utilises mRNA molecules to instruct the body’s mechanism to synthesise certain proteins, which calls for an immune response for a defence mechanism against cancer and chronic-related diseases, typically tumour-associated presenting antigens (Lam et al., 2025).

Unlike DNA-based therapies, where the DNA must migrate into the nucleus for insertion, mRNA does not migrate into the nucleus of the host genome, thereby reducing the high or low risk of insertional mutagenesis of the nucleotide into the host genome.

Furthermore, mRNA can be rapidly synthesised and modified, making it a suitable platform for developing cancer vaccines and immunotherapeutic tailored to cancer patients (Maccagno et al., 2024).

Mechanisms of Action

The mRNA immunotherapy mechanism of action involves the synthesis of mRNA encapsulated into a lipid nanoparticle for delivering it into the body cells. This lipid nanoparticle serves as a protection for the mRNA from being degraded and helps deliver it to the target cells in the body. Once the mRNA migrates to the cytoplasm of the targeted cells, the lipid nanoparticles break to release these mRNAs where protein expression of the mRNA begins to present the protein on the cell surface acting as antigen presenting proteins, triggering cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) and other immune killer cells to attack abnormal proliferating tumour cells. This mechanism empowers effective transformation of evading abnormal proliferating cells into antigen-presenting factories, producing immunogenic proteins that activate adaptive immune responses into action (Wang et al.,2024).

Advantages of mRNA-Based Cancer Immunotherapy

mRNA immunotherapy offers several advantages that outweigh the traditional method of cancer treatment. Firstly, it is highly versatile in targeting antigen presenting cells and can be also be develop to target multiple antigens simultaneously in the body, improving the specificity of tumour recognition and calling immune response into action Secondly, the development of mRNA vaccines is relatively quick and specific, an essential attribute during pandemics of the Covid-19. Thirdly, mRNA raises safety concerns since it does not persist in the body for a long period. Furthermore, in dosing regimens, mRNA immunotherapies offer a flexible safety approach where mRNA immunotherapy can be administered to cancer patients repeatedly with no or less harm to the patients, minimizing risks associated with other biological products in the system (Guasp et al., 2024).

Challenges and Limitations

Despite mRNA’s potential, mRNA immunotherapy faces several challenges in its development and mechanism. One major issue is the instability of mRNA molecules when delivered, which are prone to degradation by RNases in the targeted cell cytoplasm. This necessitates calls for attention in the employment of protective delivery systems like lipid nanoparticles for targeting target cells.

Additionally, while mRNA immunotherapy itself is considered to be safe for targeting abnormal cell proliferation, excessive immune activation of the killer cells in the body can cause autoimmune reaction.

Furthermore, most cancer cells always evolve mechanisms to evade immune surveillance by downregulation of their outer membrane protein, thus their major histocompatibility complex (MHC), characterized by regulatory T cells, myeloid-derived suppressor cells, and cytokines like TGF-β rendering these cells less effective to cancer cells, this mechanism hinder the effectiveness of mRNA-induced to target cancer cell to express the desire protein to the membrane of the cancer cell (Farina et al., 2017).

Current Advances of mRNA Immunotherapy

Several mRNA-based cancer immunotherapies are currently in preclinical and clinical development stages for an accurate and safe cure for cancer patients. Research institutions like BioNTech and Moderna are pioneering this field with clinical trials targeting cancer tumours. Recently, BioNTech, in collaboration with Genentech is working on an individualized neoantigen vaccine (BNT122), which has shown promise in early-phase trials for melanoma and pancreatic cancer. BioNTech’s new immunotherapy vaccine development is often used in combination with checkpoint inhibitors like anti-PD-1, thus blocking the evading mechanism of cancer cells, making it more vulnerable. The integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning in the scientific community in health research is also aiding in the prediction of neoantigens and the optimization of vaccine design to combat chronic and related diseases. These advances in cancer research have drawn attention that has shifted toward more personalized and effective cancer immunotherapies (Chi et al., 2024).

Future Prospects

The immunotherapy of mRNA in cancer research looks more promising in the scientific community for the well-being of humans. As technology advances in the scientific community, sequencing technologies and bioinformatics tools improve in health research in identification of tumour-specific neoantigens with more accuracy in targeting pathogens and abnormal behaviour cells (Farina et al., 2017).

Additionally, incorporating mRNA vaccines with other immunotherapies, such as CAR-T cells and some bioactive compounds in plant leaf, back and roots, may result in synergistic effects that overcome immune resistance of pathogens and evading abnormal cell proliferation.

Conclusion

The mRNA immunotherapy represents a ground-breaking advancement in the field of pathogenic and cancer treatment. The mRNA presents specific proteins, thereby calling the attention of the immune response to combat chronic and abnormal cell proliferation. While challenges remain in the scientific community in cancer research for cancer cure, ongoing research and clinical trials are paving the way for mRNA-based therapies.

As the scientific community navigates its understanding of the mRNA immunotherapy mechanism to improve cancer cure, these therapies are poised to revolutionise cancer biology. With continued research in the field of mRNA cancer immunotherapy, a cure for cancer could be a potential to significantly improve patient outcomes, reduce cancer mortality in Africa and the world as a whole, and transform the way we approach cancer treatment in the 21st century and beyond.

REFERENCE

Bediako, Akwasi Afrane, and Raymond Ohene Gyan (2025). “Understanding the Immune System’s Role in Cancer Defense.” Scientect E-Mag, 10.

Chi, W. Y., Hu, Y., Huang, H. C., Kuo, H. H., Lin, S. H., Kuo, C. J., Tao, J., Fan, D., Huang, Y. M., Wu, A. A., Hung, C. F., & Wu, T. C. (2024). Molecular targets and strategies in the development of nucleic acid cancer vaccines: from shared to personalized antigens. Journal of biomedical science, 31(1), 94. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12929-024-01082-x

Farina, M. S., Lundgren, K. T., & Bellmunt, J. (2017). Immunotherapy in Urothelial Cancer: Recent Results and Future Perspectives. Drugs, 77(10), 1077–1089. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40265-017-0748-7

Gu, T., Wang, M., Fu, X., Tian, X., Bi, J., Lu, N., Chen, C., Yan, S., Li, A., Wang, L., Li, X., Liu, K., & Dong, Z. (2024). Intratumoural delivery of TRAIL mRNA induces colon cancer cell apoptosis. Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & pharmacotherapie, 174, 116603. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2024.116603

Guasp, P., Reiche, C., Sethna, Z., & Balachandran, V. P. (2024). RNA vaccines for cancer: Principles to practice. Cancer cell, 42(7), 1163–1184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccell.2024.05.005

Lam, P. Y., Omer, N., Wong, J. K. M., Tu, C., Alim, L., Rossi, G. R., Victorova, M., Tompkins, H., Lin, C. Y., Mehdi, A. M., Choo, A., Elliott, M. R., Coleborn, E., Sun, J., Mercer, T., Vittorio, O., Dobson, L. J., McLellan, A. D., Brooks, A., Tuong, Z. K., … Souza-Fonseca-Guimaraes, F. (2025). Enhancement of anti-sarcoma immunity by NK cells engineered with mRNA for expression of a EphA2-targeted CAR. Clinical and translational medicine, 15(1), e70140. https://doi.org/10.1002/ctm2.70140

Maccagno, M., Tapparo, M., Saccu, G., Rumiano, L., Kholia, S., Silengo, L., & Herrera Sanchez, M. B. (2024). Emerging Cancer Immunotherapies: Cutting-Edge Advances and Innovations in Development. Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 12(3), 43. https://doi.org/10.3390/medsci12030043

Wen, L., Hu, W., Hou, S., Luo, C., Jin, Y., Zeng, Z., Zhang, Z., & Meng, Y. (2024). GRB7 Plays a Vital Role in Promoting the Progression and Mediating Immune Evasion of Ovarian Cancer. Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland), 17(8), 1043. https://doi.org/10.3390/ph17081043