Covid vaccines and rare thrombosis: study sheds light on mechanism

Vaccines against covid and rare thrombosis, a team of German scientists may have added an important piece to the puzzle that would explain the mechanism behind the rare blood clots that have been reported after vaccination with Oxford / AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson and they believe that a modification could stop the reaction altogether. The hypothesis is contained in a study not yet subjected to peer review but available in pre-print version. The contents are reported in the ‘Financial Times’. The group that signs the work is Rolf Marschalek, a professor at the Goethe University in Frankfurt who has been conducting studies on the rare condition since March. The research, explains the expert, shows that the problem can be found in the adenoviral vectors that both vaccines use to provide the genetic instructions for the production of the Sars-Cov-2 Spike protein in the body necessary to develop an immune response. Vaccines, the scientists hypothesize, send the genetic sequences into the cell nucleus rather than into the intracellular fluid (cytosol) found inside the cell where the virus normally produces proteins. Once inside the cell nucleus, some parts of the Spike protein’s DNA are merged or separated, creating mutant versions, which are unable to bind to the cell membrane where important immunization occurs. Instead, these floating mutant proteins are secreted by cells in the body, triggering blood clots in about one in 100,000 people, according to Marschalek’s theory. In contrast, mRna vaccines deliver Spike’s genetic material to cell fluid and never enter the nucleus. Marschalek believes there may be a “way out” if the vaccine developers modify the gene sequence that codes for the spike protein to avoid the phenomenon described, called ‘splicing’. J&J, according to the expert, contacted the Marschalek laboratory to ask for information. The company “is trying to optimize its vaccine now,” the scientist said. “With the data we have, we can tell companies how to mutate these sequences,” in order to prevent “unwanted splicing reactions.” Also according to reports from the Financial Times J&J explained that the company is carrying out an activity of “continuous research and analysis of this rare event”, working “with medical experts and global health authorities. and share data as it becomes available “.