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Scientist behind Covid-19 mRNA vaccine says her team's next target is cancer

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Re: Scientist behind Covid-19 mRNA vaccine says her team's next target is cancer

#31

Post by dragontamer »

prox wrote: post #27
dragontamer wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's really not how mRNA works. If DNA is the source code of our body, then mRNA is the machine code that exists in L1-instruction cache. (There's another process out there that copies DNA into more readily processable RNA) The way any of this mRNA stuff works is by throwing instructions into our body to create certain proteins in certain configurations. For COVID19, the vaccine is... as XKCD-put it... a set of blu…

I believe there are also viruses who can insert themselves into the cells DNA, and there are some articles on how some parts of human DNA is already old virus genome. Viruses are far more dangerous in that regard.

There's both DNA viruses and RNA viruses. RNA viruses are way more common though.

> [DNA] Viruses are far more dangerous in that regard.

Not necessarily. "Corrupt DNA" can be somewhat detected the body as a cancer cell. Our "Natural Killer" cells then kill those cells.

Cancer / corrupted DNA happens all the time in our bodies. Even healthy bodies (!!). The difference between a cancer-patient and us however, is that a cancer-patient is overrun with cancer-cells.

Our bodies naturally kill off cancer under normal circumstances. Figuring out why cancer / corrupted DNA completely takes over the body is a big mystery, especially because our body is so good at fighting off cancer under normal conditions.

Re: Scientist behind Covid-19 mRNA vaccine says her team's next target is cancer

#32

Post by amelius »

dragontamer wrote: post #24
amelius wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uhm yeah, but it also opens up ways for hackers to code all sorts of biological stuff and put it in our bodies. All from behind their keyboards. Imagine "if dna.get_race() == $RACE then kill();" Or how about some biological ransomware?

That's really not how mRNA works. If DNA is the source code of our body, then mRNA is the machine code that exists in L1-instruction cache. (There's another process out there that copies DNA into more readily processable RNA) The way any of this mRNA stuff works is by throwing instructions into our body to create certain proteins in certain configurations. For COVID19, the vaccine is... as XKCD-put it... a set of blu…

> then mRNA is the machine code that exists in L1-instruction cache

But we all know that once an attacker has write-access to the machine code in the cache, all is lost ...

Re: Scientist behind Covid-19 mRNA vaccine says her team's next target is cancer

#33

Post by therein »

tibbydudeza wrote: post #29
dragontamer wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's really not how mRNA works. If DNA is the source code of our body, then mRNA is the machine code that exists in L1-instruction cache. (There's another process out there that copies DNA into more readily processable RNA) The way any of this mRNA stuff works is by throwing instructions into our body to create certain proteins in certain configurations. For COVID19, the vaccine is... as XKCD-put it... a set of blu…

DNA = X86 opcodes RNA = UOPS/ROPS

A better analogy would be anonymous functions thrown into the global namespace that get called with whatever arguments that may happen to be on the stack at that moment.

Re: Scientist behind Covid-19 mRNA vaccine says her team's next target is cancer

#34

Post by dragontamer »

amelius wrote: post #32
dragontamer wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's really not how mRNA works. If DNA is the source code of our body, then mRNA is the machine code that exists in L1-instruction cache. (There's another process out there that copies DNA into more readily processable RNA) The way any of this mRNA stuff works is by throwing instructions into our body to create certain proteins in certain configurations. For COVID19, the vaccine is... as XKCD-put it... a set of blu…

> then mRNA is the machine code that exists in L1-instruction cache But we all know that once an attacker has write-access to the machine code in the cache, all is lost ...

I mean, my point is that "if (race == whatever)" is completely nonsensical from an mRNA perspective.

There's no way for mRNA to scan the rest of your DNA sequence to make an if/else determination. mRNA is just gonna execute once its in the body.

> Or how about some biological ransomware?

Yeah, that's called a poison and antidote / antitoxin. You don't need mRNA for that. Poison someone's food, and as they lie dying, you can offer them the antidote in exchange for something.

Re: Scientist behind Covid-19 mRNA vaccine says her team's next target is cancer

#35

Post by amelius »

dragontamer wrote: post #34
amelius wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> then mRNA is the machine code that exists in L1-instruction cache But we all know that once an attacker has write-access to the machine code in the cache, all is lost ...

I mean, my point is that "if (race == whatever)" is completely nonsensical from an mRNA perspective. There's no way for mRNA to scan the rest of your DNA sequence to make an if/else determination. mRNA is just gonna execute once its in the body. > Or how about some biological ransomware? Yeah, that's called a poison and antidote / antitoxin. You don't need mRNA for that. Poison someone's food, and as they lie dying,…

> I mean, my point is that "if (race == whatever)" is completely nonsensical from an mRNA perspective.

Is it? mRNA can code for a protein that detects other mRNA in the same cell, which may reflect any genetic characteristic of the host.

Re: Scientist behind Covid-19 mRNA vaccine says her team's next target is cancer

#36

Post by chiefalchemist »

> The scientist who won the race to deliver the first widely used coronavirus vaccine says people can rest assured the shots are safe,

Ok. But did anyone expect her to say anything else?

This is obviously a (slightly?) veiled pitch for backers, more funding, and perhaps some regulatory freedom.

It's unfortunate that the media can't resist the temptation to pitch this as news. It's not. It's interesting. There's certainly intrigue at 50k ft. But you don't ask the cow, "What do you think of milk?"

Promise and hope should be tempered with context. We've been to this rodeo before.

Re: Scientist behind Covid-19 mRNA vaccine says her team's next target is cancer

#37

Post by adrianmonk »

arrosenberg wrote: post #11
monocasa wrote: post #7

I don't quite follow. The whole shtick with problem cancers is that your immune system is ignoring them for whatever reason. mRNA vaccines work by priming the immune system for something it would attack anyway, but under safer circumstances since there's no real virus in the vaccine. What can the mRNA create that the immune system will train on given that the immune system isn't attacking the real thing to begin with…

It sounds like you are conflating the antiviral implementation with what the mRNA technology itself is doing. mRNA acts as a blueprint for proteins. Your body has tRNA translation complexes that "read" the mRNA and appropriate the correct amino acid to add to the protein chain. Here is a more detailed description - translation begins about halfway down with the UGCAs: https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/transla…

> I could imagine a number of different approaches - targeted inducing of cell death, "painting the target" for chemo drugs, making things like monoclonal (designer) antibodies in-vivo, etc.

The article does explicitly call it a "cancer vaccine" (direct quote from the researcher) and says "the same principle [as the COVID-19 vaccine] can be applied to get the immune system to take on tumours".

That's more specific than sneaking in with mRNA to get the body to produce something. It definitely sounds like whatever it is, it gets the immune system involved. It seems fair to ask exactly how it does this.

Re: Scientist behind Covid-19 mRNA vaccine says her team's next target is cancer

#38

Post by dragontamer »

amelius wrote: post #35
dragontamer wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, my point is that "if (race == whatever)" is completely nonsensical from an mRNA perspective. There's no way for mRNA to scan the rest of your DNA sequence to make an if/else determination. mRNA is just gonna execute once its in the body. > Or how about some biological ransomware? Yeah, that's called a poison and antidote / antitoxin. You don't need mRNA for that. Poison someone's food, and as they lie dying,…

> I mean, my point is that "if (race == whatever)" is completely nonsensical from an mRNA perspective. Is it? mRNA can code for a protein that detects other mRNA in the same cell, which may reflect any genetic characteristic of the host.

mRNA isn't really code. Its a blueprint.

https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/translation-dna-to...

When we say mRNA "executes", that's a cell injesting mRNA, and assembling a protein (polypeptide). For example, the mRNA sequence 'ACU', when 'executed' by a cell, will turn into a Threonine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threonine

Re: Scientist behind Covid-19 mRNA vaccine says her team's next target is cancer

#40

Post by Dylan16807 »

dragontamer wrote: post #38
amelius wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I mean, my point is that "if (race == whatever)" is completely nonsensical from an mRNA perspective. Is it? mRNA can code for a protein that detects other mRNA in the same cell, which may reflect any genetic characteristic of the host.

mRNA isn't really code. Its a blueprint. https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/translation-dna-to... When we say mRNA "executes", that's a cell injesting mRNA, and assembling a protein (polypeptide). For example, the mRNA sequence 'ACU', when 'executed' by a cell, will turn into a Threonine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threonine

RNA can fold up and get stuck to other sequences. Using that as a trigger isn't out of the question.
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