{"id":45152,"date":"2025-09-05T11:30:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T11:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/45152\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T11:30:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T11:30:08","slug":"how-fast-mrna-degrades-linked-to-autoimmune-disease-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/45152\/","title":{"rendered":"How fast mRNA degrades linked to autoimmune disease risk"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Key takeaways<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Messenger RNA copies and carries instructions from the DNA in the cell\u2019s nucleus to where protein is made. More mRNA usually means more protein \u2014 unless the mRNA is unstable and breaks down too quickly.<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Mutations in the DNA can affect the production and stability of mRNA, which influences how much protein a cell produces and a person\u2019s risk of disease.\u00a0<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>UCLA researchers have identified genetic mutations that influence mRNA stability. Many of these genes are involved in immune system function.<\/li>\n<p>&#13;\n<\/ul>\n<p>A pizza shop with 30 delivery people ought to be able to deliver a lot of pizzas \u2014 if their cars don\u2019t break down on the way. Likewise, genes that produce a lot of messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules can build a lot of proteins \u2014 if these molecules don\u2019t fall apart before the job gets done.<\/p>\n<p>Inside almost every human cell is DNA, a comprehensive instruction manual for building and maintaining the body. Genes in that manual contain the instructions for making proteins. But those instructions must travel from the cell\u2019s nucleus, where the DNA lives, to the outer region of the cell \u2014 the cytoplasm \u2014 where proteins are actually made.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s where mRNA comes in. Like a messenger, it copies the instructions from the DNA in the nucleus and carries them out to the protein-making machinery. More mRNA typically means more protein \u2014 unless the mRNA is unstable and breaks down too quickly.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" align=\"left\" alt=\"Illustration showing DNA transcription to mRNA in the nucleus; the mRNA molecule is then exported to the cytosol, the fluid in the cell\" author=\"National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons\" data-imgheight=\"1170\" data-imgwidth=\"1170\" file_id=\"6888f4e72cfac25993034092\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/MRNA+interaction.jpg\" title=\"\" width=\"450\/\"\/><\/p>\n<p>National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery mRNA has to die in the end,\u201d says\u00a0<a data-mce-href=\"https:\/\/xiaolab.ibp.ucla.edu\/\" href=\"https:\/\/xiaolab.ibp.ucla.edu\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Xinshu Xiao,<\/a> a professor of integrative biology and physiology at UCLA and senior author of a new paper published in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41588-025-02326-8\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\">Nature Genetics.<\/a> \u201cIt\u2019s produced, it does its job, and then it\u2019s destroyed. But most research has focused on how mRNA is made. Much less attention has been paid towards how fast it\u2019s degraded \u2014 and that\u2019s just as important.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Both the production and stability of mRNA can be affected by mutations in the DNA, which are commonly referred to as genetic variants. These variants can affect how much protein a cell makes, and in turn, influence a person\u2019s risk of disease. But figuring out whether a variant affects\u00a0how much\u00a0mRNA is made \u2014 or\u00a0how long\u00a0it survives \u2014 has been a major challenge.<\/p>\n<p>Led by UCLA doctoral student Elaine Huang, Xiao\u2019s team developed a computational tool called RNAtracker, which is\u00a0<a data-mce-href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/gxiaolab\/RNAtracker\" href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/gxiaolab\/RNAtracker\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">freely available.<\/a> The software allows researchers to pinpoint whether a gene is being regulated through changes in mRNA production or in mRNA stability. In pizza terms: Is the problem that not enough pizzas are being made or that the delivery cars are breaking down? RNAtracker helps scientists trace the breakdown.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers applied RNAtracker to a publicly available dataset of 16 human cell lines, in which newly made mRNAs had been chemically labeled and tracked over time. This allowed them to identify genes whose stability varies due to specific mutations. Many of these genes were involved in immune system function \u2014 especially the innate immune system, the body\u2019s first line of defense against infections.<\/p>\n<p>The team also found that several of the genetic variants linked to unstable mRNA had already been associated with autoimmune diseases in large-scale genetic studies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne insight from this project is that some disease-associated variants may be acting through effects on mRNA stability,\u201d said Xiao.<\/p>\n<p>Using additional modeling, the researchers linked expression levels of these stability-regulated genes to diseases including allergic rhinitis, lupus, diabetes mellitus and multiple sclerosis. The findings suggest that mRNA stability \u2014 long overlooked \u2014 may be a key mechanism behind many immune-related diseases.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBasic research like ours shifts the paradigm of what people focus on,\u201d said Huang. \u201cFor drug developers or researchers working on treatments, you can\u2019t target what you don\u2019t know is important. We are trying to bring attention to genetic variants that affect mRNA stability, which hasn\u2019t gotten the spotlight it deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The research, which received funding from the National Institutes of Health, used publicly available data generated by\u00a0<a data-mce-href=\"https:\/\/www.encodeproject.org\/\" href=\"https:\/\/www.encodeproject.org\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ENCODE,<\/a> an NIH-supported consortium.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe NIH plays a critical role by supporting large-scale efforts like ENCODE,\u201d said Xiao. \u201cThey make it possible for researchers around the world to access massive datasets and make discoveries like ours.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Additional authors include: Ting Fu, Ling Zhang, Guan\u2019ao Yan, Ryo Yamamoto, Sari Terrazas, Thuy Linh Nguyen, Carlos Gonzalez-Figueroa, Armen Khanbabaei, Jae Hoon Bahn, Rajagopal Varada, Kofi Amoah, Jonatan Hervoso, Michelle Paulsen, Brian Magnuson, Mats Ljungman and Jingyi Jessica Li.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Key takeaways &#13; Messenger RNA copies and carries instructions from the DNA in the cell\u2019s nucleus to where&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[272],"tags":[9591,18,458,19,17,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-45152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-genetics","8":"tag-biological-sciences","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-genetics","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-science"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}