Re:mRNA Cancer Vaccine Reprograms Immune System to Tackle Gl...
by Terr_ on Wednesday May 01, 2024 @09:47PM
(#40231908)
That reminds me of a piece about the "source code" of one of the mRNA vaccines [0], which had an amusing bit showcasing how one kind of pre-pandemic research was hugely important in preparing the necessary tools for when they were needed:
> It turns out that, unmodified, freestanding Spike proteins collapse into a different structure. If injected as a vaccine, this would indeed cause our bodies to develop immunity... but only against the collapsed spike protein.
> And the real SARS-CoV-2 shows up with the spiky Spike. The vaccine would not work very well in that case.
> So what to do? In 2017 it was described how putting a double Proline substitution in just the right place would make the SARS-CoV-1 and MERS S proteins take up their ‘pre-fusion’ configuration, even without being part of the whole virus. This works because Proline is a very rigid amino acid. It acts as a kind of splint, stabilising the protein in the state we need to show to the immune system.
> The people that discovered this should be walking around high-fiving themselves incessantly. Unbearable amounts of smugness should be emanating from them. And it would all be well deserved.
> It turns out that, unmodified, freestanding Spike proteins collapse into a different structure. If injected as a vaccine, this would indeed cause our bodies to develop immunity... but only against the collapsed spike protein.
> And the real SARS-CoV-2 shows up with the spiky Spike. The vaccine would not work very well in that case.
> So what to do? In 2017 it was described how putting a double Proline substitution in just the right place would make the SARS-CoV-1 and MERS S proteins take up their ‘pre-fusion’ configuration, even without being part of the whole virus. This works because Proline is a very rigid amino acid. It acts as a kind of splint, stabilising the protein in the state we need to show to the immune system.
> The people that discovered this should be walking around high-fiving themselves incessantly. Unbearable amounts of smugness should be emanating from them. And it would all be well deserved.
[0] https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/reverse-engineering-source...