Cationic lissome-mediated RNA transfection

Vaccine development history

This paper was submitted by R W Malone, P L Felgner, and I M Verma in 1989

It is presented here as part of the history of mRNA vaccines. Later, this work was used as a source by Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman to prefect mRNA vaccines. Note – it took 31 years before the first history making mRNA vaccines were released. The first rabies vaccine was released after one test by Louis Pasture after two years of study. The first polio vaccine was developed in less than 10 years.

Abstract of the Journal Article

We are sorry this is full of technical terms. We will in the future have all these terms defined as we develop this website.

We have developed an efficient and reproducible method for RNA transfection, using a synthetic cationic lipid, N-[1-(2,3-dioleyloxy)propyl]-N,N,N-trimethylammonium chloride (DOTMA), incorporated into a liposome (lipofectin). Transfection of 10 ng to 5 micrograms of Photinus pyralis luciferase mRNA synthesized in vitro into NIH 3T3 mouse cells yields a linear response of luciferase activity. The procedure can be used to efficiently transfect RNA into human, rat, mouse, Xenopus, and Drosophila cells. Using the RNA/lipofectin transfection procedure, we have analyzed the role of capping and beta-globin 5′ and 3′ untranslated sequences on the translation efficiency of luciferase RNA synthesized in vitro. Following transfection of NIH 3T3 cells, capped mRNAs with beta-globin untranslated sequences produced at least 1000-fold more luciferase protein than mRNAs lacking these elements.

The source article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989 Aug;86(16):6077-81. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.16.607

Immunology Research