Today I watched a webinar in which Moderna announced that they are close to testing their COVID-19 vaccine which is based upon their messenger RNA therapeutics technology.
What is messenger RNA therapeutics and what are its implications for you?
First, let’s go have a mini biology lesson.
What is messenger RNA?
For those who don’t remember high school biology, the information contained in DNA (a double-stranded molecule made up of amino acids) cannot directly produce proteins in the body. In order to accomplish that feat, another molecule is needed: messenger RNA. Messenger RNA takes the “code” of a protein from the DNA into the cytoplasm of cells, where protein synthesis occurs. In the cytoplasm a process known as transcription takes place where a molecular machine called a ribosome travels along the single-stranded messenger RNA molecule to “read” the code of the protein being created — and then create it.
How important is protein synthesis? Very, very important. To illustrate how important, consider the case of actin and myosin. The muscles in your body are composed of two protein filaments, a thick one (composed of the contractile protein myosin) and a thin one (composed of the contractile protein actin). Without both of these proteins working in concert, your muscles do not contract.
Other important proteins are enzymes, hormones and antibodies. Antibodies help fight off infections while enzymes and hormones control a host of other processes within the body.
And messenger RNA makes all of this possible.
What is messenger RNA therapeutics?
Quite simply, messenger RNA therapeutics creates artificial messenger RNA sequences that are accepted by the cells of your body as though they were produced in the body. Translation: we can now create custom proteins through the use of artificial messenger RNA sequences that will not be rejected by your body.
These custom messenger RNA molecules can be delivered to your cells through vaccines and other, custom-designed methods.
What does this mean?
Don’t get me wrong: messenger RNA therapeutics is incredible. This technology could be the way to end cancer and a host of other diseases. It also means that drugs can be directly created within the human body.
As a technologist, though, I’m inherently skeptical of a technology that works with the basic building blocks of a human body. Even if everything works as expected, I worry about those things that are unexpected. It’s okay for my classic Macintosh to tell me it has encountered an “unexpected error”; it’s quite another for my body to be affected in unexpected ways.
Whenever I think about unexpected biological effects, I’m reminded of a story told in passing in William Gibson’s Neuromancer (I think it was Neuromancer) about someone who had a digital clock that projected the current time directly into his optic nerve — until he committed suicide because he couldn’t figure out how to turn the clock off.
Then there’s intentional misuse. Like any scientific breakthrough, messenger RNA therapeutics could be utilized by bad actors for less noble purposes. Forget throwing sarin gas into subway cars; now I can engineer a gas that can target pinpoint weaknesses in any group I choose.
While I can easily see the potential of messenger RNA therapeutics, it also seems like the perfect control mechanism. After all, messenger RNA plays an important role in learning and memory formation as well as immune system function. The defective processing of messenger RNA has also been linked to schizophrenia. Want to discredit someone? The ability to turn them into a schizophrenic seems like a great way to do so, as does disrupting their ability to learn and remember.
I know what a lot of people will say: “You’re nuts! This is an amazing breakthrough and there’s no evidence that it can be abused.”
I wish I believed enough in human goodness to be able to dismiss the abuse of messenger RNA therapeutics. Unfortunately, I’ve been alive long enough to see humans live down to their worst impulses. It’s hard to believe that the same beings who can create messenger RNA therapeutics can also still be selling people into sexual slavery. Nevertheless, both things are true. Cognitive dissonance, anyone?
The ability to create artificial messenger RNA that is accepted by the body opens up the possibility of creating some of the most vile bioweapons imaginable. Hearing about messenger RNA therapeutics reminded of “The Vengeance Factor”, an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that aired in 1989. At the time, the plot of the episode was science fiction. Today, it’s one step closer to becoming science fact.
Scary, right?
It’s something to think about. Stay aware.
