> the agency told The BMJ that the levels of truncated mRNA “and the amounts of a potential protein produced by the truncated mRNA would be too low to constitute a safety risk.”
I still plan on getting vaccinated, but I always wondered about the failure modes of the mRNA as it decays and what materials it could produce. I'm hoping prions are not possible, but are they?
The story also asks what happens to the lipid nanoparticles, but I am wondering about another aspect of these crafted mRNA sequences. The "U" in the mRNA has been replaced 1-methyl-3’-pseudouridylyl, denoted by Ψ in their sequences. What happens to the Ψ and its byproducts as it decays or is metabolized?
mRNA encodes instructions for creating proteins, and prions are mis-folded proteins. I think the concern is more, our bodies' natural mRNA is unlikely to create prions or it would be a common occurrence, but lab-created mRNA isn't made of the same parts and doesn't have that millennia of evidence behind it.
This lab created mRNA creates a protein from a highly infectious virus, so it's probably not a big additional risk over the medium term (body probably gonna be folding some of them either by vaccination or infection).
Prions are mis-folded proteins which cause a cascade of mis-folding in proteins of the same structure which are already present in the body. The mis-folding affects their biological activity.
The “proteins of the same structure” we are talking about here are virus spike proteins. Assuming that there is a pathway that leads to the misfolded form propagating to begin with, the damage is that other spike proteins don’t work. These proteins, however, were never intended to perform any function whatsoever.
prions are fairly specific sequences to begin with, and then there is the folding issue that apparently makes some prions an active concern, the most concerning being those that are autotemplates and replicate themselves. commonly prions are not digestible by protease enzymes, thus accumulate like a factory floor full of broken, off spec parts.
its not good odds at all to bet on a viral mRNA fragment spontaneously creating a prion protien sequence. this is not beyond the realm of possibilities however the probability nonexistent, compared to the probability that anyone at random could have a nasty interferon mediated cytokine cascade, and sequential inflamatory response to the virus.
>>The story also asks what happens to the lipid nanoparticles<<
these lipid particles are incorporated into the cell membrane during vesicular fusion. Expression of the mRNA results in S protien being expressed on the surface of this cell, Antibodies of complementary clonal type bind to this spike in numerous locations the now adulterated cell is labelled as antigenic thus is destroyed by macrophages, the pieces of this cell are then compared to the self/nonself portfolio of patterns and further antibodies are produced.
all the while this cell is in distress due to the presence of foriegn nucleotides and this incurrs an interferon mediated response that spreads among cells and likewise induces interferon response
> What happens to the Ψ and its byproducts as it decays or is metabolized?
I had the same question. What I found in a long paper about mRNA vaccines is that they do not really know, but they assume you'll be fine, since they didn't see any immediate effects and because the quantities are tiny.
I still plan on getting vaccinated, but I always wondered about the failure modes of the mRNA as it decays and what materials it could produce. I'm hoping prions are not possible, but are they?
The story also asks what happens to the lipid nanoparticles, but I am wondering about another aspect of these crafted mRNA sequences. The "U" in the mRNA has been replaced 1-methyl-3’-pseudouridylyl, denoted by Ψ in their sequences. What happens to the Ψ and its byproducts as it decays or is metabolized?