Bibliographic Review: Mrna platforms and lipid nanoparticles in fighting the covid-19 pandemic

In the case of rapidly emerging viral pandemics such as the novel coronavirus, rapid development and large-scale implementation of vaccines is a critical need that may not be met by the use of conventional technologies alone. Nanostructured materials have proved to be great allies in vaccine design, catalysing their construction and allowing clinical trials to begin at an unprecedented speed. Among the main immunisation techniques benefited by nanoscience, we can highlight RNA vaccines. In this sense, this work proposes to perform a brief literature review of these new mRNA platforms and the role of nanomaterials in their formulations, highlighting their causes, limitations and consequences of their use. These are based on the transport of ribonucleic acid using nanoparticles capable of increasing the stability and delivery capacity of the genetic material. Pfizer/BioNTech's BNT162b2 and Moderna Therapeutics' mRNA-1273 vaccines, which use mRNA technology delivered by lipid nanoparticles, were two of the first five vaccines authorised for use by the WHO to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, associating speed, safety and efficiencies above 90%.