CitizenVectron Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 Vaccine breakthrough means no more chasing strains NEWS.UCR.EDU Scientists at UC Riverside have demonstrated a new, RNA-based vaccine strategy that is effective against any strain of a virus and can be used safely even by babies or the immunocompromised. Quote Every year, researchers try to predict the four influenza strains that are most likely to be prevalent during the upcoming flu season. And every year, people line up to get their updated vaccine, hoping the researchers formulated the shot correctly. The same is true of COVID vaccines, which have been reformulated to target sub-variants of the most prevalent strains circulating in the U.S. This new strategy would eliminate the need to create all these different shots, because it targets a part of the viral genome that is common to all strains of a virus. The vaccine, how it works, and a demonstration of its efficacy in mice is described in a paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneticBlueprint Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 RNA vaccines are a game changer. I think--barring political fuckery (big ask I know)--we'll see exponential benefits in other medical areas thanks to this technology/research. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xbob42 Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 Alright, let's get everyone vaccinated globally against a certain type of virus, and then a few years later just fucking bombard the atmosphere with 20,000 strains of that virus to kill off the morons. 1 1 1 3 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stepee Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 Counterpoint: This isn’t real and is actually a microchip created by Bill Gates to infect us all with the woke mind virus 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xbob42 Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 5 minutes ago, stepee said: Counterpoint: This isn’t real and is actually a microchip created by Bill Gates to infect us all with the woke mind virus Sign me up for two then, please! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 1 hour ago, CitizenVectron said: This new strategy would eliminate the need to create all these different shots, because it targets a part of the viral genome that is common to all strains of a virus OK - that explains how this is possible and why a change to the vaccine wouldn't be necessary unless the virus's genome evolves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser_Soze Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 45 minutes ago, Xbob42 said: Alright, let's get everyone vaccinated globally against a certain type of virus, and then bombard the atmosphere with 20,000 strains of that virus to kill off the morons. Well, you gotta test to see if the vaccine worked right? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spork3245 Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 How much autism will it give RFK Jr? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legend Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 If I'm following this, it would not be more effective than your eventual immune system if you were actually infected and recovered. Is that right? If so, it's unclear to me just how "universal" this vaccine would be, because we have instances of people getting sick with a different strain of COVID not very long after they recovered from a previous version. Sounds like it would be better than what we have, but I question the extent of how universal it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mclumber1 Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 4 hours ago, stepee said: Counterpoint: This isn’t real and is actually a microchip created by Bill Gates to infect us all with the woke mind virus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TyphoidHater Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 6 hours ago, Spork3245 said: How much autism will it give RFK Jr? Not enough Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TUFKAK Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 7 hours ago, stepee said: Counterpoint: This isn’t real and is actually a microchip created by Bill Gates to infect us all with the woke mind virus This seems more likely tbh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 19 hours ago, legend said: If I'm following this, it would not be more effective than your eventual immune system if you were actually infected and recovered. Is that right? If so, it's unclear to me just how "universal" this vaccine would be, because we have instances of people getting sick with a different strain of COVID not very long after they recovered from a previous version. Sounds like it would be better than what we have, but I question the extent of how universal it is. The "universality" derives from its targeting of aspects of a virus's genome that are common to all strains of the virus which I presume isn't the case with current vaccines, hence the situation where vaccines are constantly playing "catch up" to the evolving viral strains. I'd imagine that eventually those common aspects of the virus genomes would evolve to the point where a new version of the vaccine would be necessary, but I assume that rate of change is significantly slower than that for the aspects targeted by current vaccines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legend Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 38 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said: The "universality" derives from its targeting of aspects of a virus's genome that are common to all strains of the virus which I presume isn't the case with current vaccines, hence the situation where vaccines are constantly playing "catch up" to the evolving viral strains. I'd imagine that eventually those common aspects of the virus genomes would evolve to the point where a new version of the vaccine would be necessary, but I assume that rate of change is significantly slower than that for the aspects targeted by current vaccines. How are they doing that though? It sounded to me like they are taking a live virus, but removing the part of its coding that allows the virus to suppress RNAi so that it's safe to infect people with it. And that because it's otherwise a full live virus, our immune system does a better job learning to fight it. That might still be better than what we do with vaccines today which are more targeted, but that would still wouldn't be better than immunity formed from a natural infection. If they're doing something more than crippling a live virus, it's not coming across clearly to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legend Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 For clarity, here is the part of the article I'm referring to. Quote The new vaccine also uses a live, modified version of a virus. However, it does not rely on the vaccinated body having this traditional immune response or immune active proteins — which is the reason it can be used by babies whose immune systems are underdeveloped, or people suffering from a disease that overtaxes their immune system. Instead, this relies on small, silencing RNA molecules. “A host — a person, a mouse, anyone infected— will produce small interfering RNAs as an immune response to viral infection. These RNAi then knock down the virus,” said Shouwei Ding, distinguished professor of microbiology at UCR, and lead paper author. The reason viruses successfully cause disease is because they produce proteins that block a host’s RNAi response. “If we make a mutant virus that cannot produce the protein to suppress our RNAi, we can weaken the virus. It can replicate to some level, but then loses the battle to the host RNAi response,” Ding said. “A virus weakened in this way can be used as a vaccine for boosting our RNAi immune system.” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 3 minutes ago, legend said: How are they doing that though? It sounded to me like they are taking a live virus, but removing the part of its coding that allows the virus to suppress RNAi so that it's safe to infect people with it. And that because it's otherwise a full live virus, our immune system does a better job learning to fight it. That might still be better than what we do with vaccines today which are more targeted, but that would still wouldn't be better than immunity formed from a natural infection. If they're doing something more than crippling a live virus, it's not coming across clearly to me. It may not necessarily be better than natural infection for those of us with normally-functioning immune systems, but it could make a significant difference for those who are severely immunocompromised as they will be better able to leverage their RNAi in a less risky manner than traditional vaccine solutions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legend Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 All I can figure is a natural infection won't result in the body ever producing the RNAi because the suppression from the virus lasts too long to allow the system to ever engage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legend Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 Just now, Commissar SFLUFAN said: It may not necessarily be better than natural infection for those of us with normally-functioning immune systems, but it could make a significant difference for those who are severely immunocompromised as they will be better able to leverage their RNAi in a less risky manner than traditional vaccine solutions. Oh for sure. It sounds like it's useful regardless. I'm specifically questioning just how "universal" it is though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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