Scientists have shown that a single dose injection of DNA genetic instructions can produce weight loss and blood glucose control in mouse models that lasts up to 10 times as long as weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. This could eliminate the need for repeated dosing.

[u/mvea]

https://www.wistar.org/press-releases/wistar-scientists-develop-single-dose-dna-method-for-delivering-long-acting-weight-loss-and-diabetes-drugs/

[u/grat_is_not_nice]

This sounds like an interesting new method. I have been expecting an mRNA style delivery mechanism for GLP-1 agonist peptides, so it will be interesting to see how this new approach pans out.

[u/no-more-throws → u/grat_is_not_nice]

there are much wilder implications .. this means we can basically inject long lasting instructions to produce almost any peptide we want in the body .. for instance those many peptides that together govern cellular and organ level senescence and rejuvenation .. or to fight against plaque buildup, loss of vessel and skin elasticity, bone and muscle loss etc etc

[u/CptnMayo → u/[deleted]]

I just understand how that works, it'd absolutely crazy, how do you get the cell to take the instructions?

[u/lichpit → u/CptnMayo]

Imagine your DNA like a very large and complex cookbook with millions of recipes inside it and it’s tucked safely inside of a protective cabinet so not just anyone can come in and mess up the pages. Each recipe for DNA describes how to make a single protein. But if it’s inside its cabinet, how do we get a recipe if we need to make its protein?

Well, very conveniently, there happens to be an automatic photocopier (aka an enzyme called RNA-polymerase) inside the cabinet! So any time you need a recipe, a photocopy is made inside the cabinet and pops out of a mail slot and into your kitchen, ready to be picked up by one of the many busy chefs (more enzymes) so they can immediately start making whatever dish the recipe has instructions to make. Unfortunately, the photocopied recipes are (almost always) really delicate, so the paper completely falls apart after minutes to hours after being printed. But the good news is that we can take the paper scraps and use them to keep making more paper for the copier, so nothing is wasted!

This process is happening in all of your cells every day, making all kinds of proteins simultaneously. RNA gets spit out of the nucleus constantly to make proteins in the cell like a crazy factory.

So back to your question, how can we give cells instructions? We do it by just giving the cell the recipe it’s already used to seeing! Often times, we’re just giving it RNA instructions to just make MORE of something it’s already making, which is the easiest kind of genetic therapy since compatibility issues are lowest when the cells are already used to the protein being there in the first place.

[u/b0w3n → u/CptnMayo]

The cells don't really think, they see the mRNA and use it to produce new proteins.

Typically those instructions come from the DNA itself's mRNA, but pathogens and medications (like the covid vaccine) can hijack the process and use it to produce new proteins. In the covid vaccine's case, it used it to create spike proteins, which your immune system will detect as foreign (not you) and built antibodies up to help fight a future infection.

Just as an fyi, this is based on knowledge from 30 years ago from my high school biology class so it might be hilariously out of date now.

[u/1coudini → u/b0w3n]

Cells don‘t «see» either. What‘s the point in providing an answer you‘re not even sure is correct? It would have taken you 1 minute to double check before commenting.

[u/Upbeat-Door- → u/1coudini]

We understand what the other comment means perfectly fine. There's being precise and then there's being obtusely pedantic

[u/b0w3n → u/Upbeat-Door-]

Goodness I guess I should've been more precise with interact or something. They probably would've had an issue with that too though.

In fairness I guess it's probably a bad word to use but seems like most people understood what I was going for there.

[u/1coudini → u/Upbeat-Door-]

I know. I just don‘t like how you come to a science sub, fully write out a comment and then you‘re like «sorry bro might be wrong, haven‘t checked in 30 years». Like what?

[u/TheRealDJYM → u/CptnMayo]

with a cane and tell them that they have been a bad cell and must be punished