4 ms·
mRNA does phase out - they're blueprints that are broken down when they're not needed. The half-life of them is measured in hours: http://book.bionumbers.org/ho
by Fomite 6y ago
mRNA does phase out - they're blueprints that are broken down when they're not needed. The half-life of them is measured in hours: http://book.bionumbers.org/how-fast-do-rnas-and-proteins-degrade/ http://book.bionumbers.org/how-fast-do-rnas-and-proteins-deg...
Edit: As noted in a comment, the half-life for the vaccine-related mRNA strands are longer, by design, so they produce more spike protein, but they remain fairly transient.
- hartator 6y agoModerna and Pfizer mRNA half life is actually 10 and 14 days. The human one is indeed hours. Which is fine but it’s indeed not clear in their communication.
- franklyt 6y agoThat’s a huge difference. Do you have a citation for this claim? I don’t doubt you, but, wow.
- hoseja 6y agoYou can probably design the fragment so it doesn't mesh well with the recycling apparatus of the human cell but still works for transcription.
- inglor_cz 6y agohttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7076378/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7076378/ Look at the section 4.1. Molecular Stabilization. Yes, it is a challenge, but a challenge that has been overcome.
- throwawaysea 6y agoFor GP’s comment, what happens to vaccine components that are “broken down”? It’s not just the mRNA in there right? There are other compounds to aid in delivering and stabilizing the dose. A serious side effect known only in the future may not specifically arise from the broken down mRNA. So does the body flush out (pardon my informality/ignorance on the right terminology) all the components of the vaccine somehow?
- Fomite 6y agoThe rest of the components are also broken down. The components are lipids (fats) meant to protect the mRNA while it's being introduced, some salts for stabilization, and sucrose. Your body knows how to handle all of those perfectly well, and yes, most of them will be excreted.