Research progress on circular RNA vaccines

Front Immunol. 2023 Jan 12:13:1091797. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.1091797. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

Owing to the success of linear mRNA coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines, biopharmaceutical companies and research teams worldwide have attempted to develop more stable circular RNA (circRNA) vaccines and have achieved some preliminary results. This review aims to summarize key findings and important progress made in circRNA research, the in vivo metabolism and biological functions of circRNAs, and research progress and production process of circRNA vaccines. Further, considerations regarding the quality control of circRNA vaccines are highlighted herein, and the main challenges and problem-solving strategies in circRNA vaccine development and quality control are outlined to provide a reference for circRNA vaccine-related research.

Keywords: circular RNA vaccines; outlook; production process; quality control; research progress.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biological Products*
  • COVID-19 Vaccines
  • COVID-19* / prevention & control
  • Humans
  • RNA, Circular / genetics
  • RNA, Messenger
  • Vaccines*

Substances

  • RNA, Circular
  • RNA, Messenger
  • Vaccines
  • Biological Products
  • COVID-19 Vaccines

Grants and funding

This work was supported by CAMS Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences (2021-I2M-5-005).