RNASTOP: A Deep Learning Framework for mRNA Chemical Stability Prediction and Optimization

Abstract

Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines offer promising therapeutics for combating various diseases, yet their inherent chemical instability hampers their long-term efficacy. Although several methods have been developed to predict mRNA degradation, they exhibit limited accuracy and lack the capability for rational sequence optimization. Here, we propose RNASTOP, a novel framework integrating deep learning with heuristic search to simultaneously predict and optimize mRNA chemical stability. RNASTOP achieves a 13% accuracy improvement over the top-performing model on the Stanford OpenVaccine competition dataset and demonstrates robust generalization in predicting full-length mRNA degradation. Applied to mRNA codon optimization, RNASTOP reduces the minimum free energy of the Varicella-Zoster Virus vaccine sequence by 75.73% while maintaining high translation efficiency. Overall, RNASTOP serves as a powerful tool for predicting and optimizing mRNA chemical stability, poised to expedite the development of mRNA therapeutics. The source code of RNASTOP can be accessed at https://github.com/xlab-BioAI/RNASTOP.