Enhancing the Effect of Protein-Based COVID-19 Vaccines
Ironically, some vaccines need their own “boosters.” An ingredient called an adjuvant can be added to vaccines to help elicit a more robust immune response, better training the body to fight a pathogen. Scientists report a substance that boosted the immune response to an experimental COVID-19 shot in mice by 25 times, compared to injection with the vaccine alone. Details of the research are described in a new paper published today (August 31, 2022) in the journal ACS Infectious Diseases.
An adjuvant is an ingredient used in some vaccines, which helps recipients of the vaccine develop a greater immunological response. Adjuvants, in other words, make vaccinations more effective.
Even though the first COVID-19 shots authorized in the U.S. apply cutting-edge mRNA genetic technology, the tried-and-true strategy of using proteins from the pathogen can produce vaccines that are less expensive to make and easier to store. So far, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized only one protein-based vaccine, made by Novavax, against SARS-CoV-2. However, many currently available inoculations against other diseases depend on proteins or pieces of them, and these shots contain adjuvants to boost their effectiveness.
Exploring α-Galactosylceramide as an Adjuvant
Scientists have discovered that molecules derived from α-galactosylceramide (αGC), a compound from marine sponges, can act as adjuvants. They work by stimulating a small population of immune cells that are important for defending the body against viral infections. Rui Luo, Zheng Liu, and their colleagues wanted to see if they could devise a version of αGC to significantly enhance the immune response elicited by a protein-based COVID-19 vaccine.
Four analogs of αGC were made by the team. They added each to an experimental vaccine containing a piece of SARS-CoV-2’s spike protein, which the virus uses to infect cells. Mice were given three injections over 29 days and the researchers tracked their immune response out to 35 days.
To measure the effects of the adjuvants, the scientists scrutinized various aspects of immune function, including two ways the immune system eliminates pathogens: through T cells, which kill diseased cells, and antibodies, which are immune proteins that latch onto an invader.
Promising Results for αGC-CPOEt
None of the four meaningfully boosted the T cell response, but all of them produced antibodies with a much greater capacity for interfering with the virus. The analog called αGC-CPOEt led to the production of antibodies with the greatest neutralizing capacity — 25 times greater than what the vaccine could elicit without an adjuvant.
According to the researchers, these results suggest αGC-CPOEt merits further investigation as a potential adjuvant to fight COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.
Reference: “A new iNKT-cell agonist-adjuvanted SARS-CoV-2 subunit vaccine elicits robust neutralizing antibody responses” by Ya-Qian Li, Cheng Yan, Xi-Feng Wang, Mao-Ying Xian, Guo-Qing Zou, Xiao-Fei Gao, Rui Luo and Zheng Liu, 31 August 2022, ACS Infectious Diseases.
DOI: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.2c00296
The authors acknowledge funding from National Natural Science Foundation of China, Central China Normal University, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities from Huazhong Agricultural University, and the Program of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities of China.
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18 Comments
Or you could naturally boost your own immune response by not getting a vaccine and letting your body do what it was designed to do.
Better than being a lab rat for these experiments.
There are already numerous studies and publications across the world showing the COVID 19 vaccines suppress the human immune system not boost it.
CDC finds that unvaccinated people are three times as likely to die of Covid than vaccinated people. It has also been found that if you are vaccinated and do get Covid, it is much milder and of shorter duration than if you were not vaccinated.
There are also numerous “studies” and “publications” across the world which claim the earth is flat. The earth doesn’t read those “studies” and “publications”, and remains (approximately) round despite them. Covid doesn’t read them either, and it can kill you no matter what you choose to believe. Hedge your bets and get vaccinated, you can already be tracked quite well via your cell phone, there’s no need to bother with putting imaginary nanoparticles in the vaccine.
Nailed it on the head. Especially the last bit. Shots have wiped out a lot of diseases that plagued humanity for thousands of years ie smallpox. This really isn’t that different. Seems like anti vaxxers are just searching for articles and sources that they think confirm what they already thought and not paying attention to the motives of the author. Most conspiracy stuff is just reposted from other conspiracy sites. It’s sad that people believe more in a few nutjobs writing from their basement than thousands of scientist the world over. No amount of logic will change some people’s opinions unfortunately.
Tennis Guy, brilliant strategy. Get infected with COVID to prevent COVID.
Some bodies are designed to die of certain infections. Or are you disputing the vast number of people who have died from Covid.
These include many anti-vaxers who swallowed the bilge put out by those who prefer non-science. e.g. see Wikipedia’s “Deaths of anti-vaccine advocates from COVID-19”.
Darwin will take care of Tennis Guy. Problem is he puts everyone around him at risk, especially anyone who is already immunocompromised, old, sick, transplant recipients, you name it. he is free to go to h*ll in his own handbasket, but he has no right to take anyone else with him.
These anti-vaxxers are morons, vaccines are why we don’t have smallpox, polio, measles, mumps and a host of other diseases afflicting us – except for the few who are convinced that modern medicine is a total hoax, and THEY prefer witch doctors, and guess what, they get sick and die.
This is the comment I’ve been waiting for 👏. Thank you. My mom is on chemo, has both shots+ the booster, never left the house except to buy groceries but she got COVID anyway and almost died with it. I live in a really conservative area and nobody masked or got vaccinated. They don’t seem to understand that when they get sicker with it they spread more germs to people like my mom. It’s sad how inconsiderate people are that she has to buy food, too.
Thank you. My mom is on chemo, has both shots+ the booster, never left the house except to buy groceries but she got COVID anyway and almost died with it. I live in a really conservative area and nobody masked or got vaccinated. They don’t seem to understand that when they get sicker with it they spread more germs to people like my mom. It’s sad how inconsiderate people are that she has to buy food, too.
This is the comment I’ve been waiting for 👏. Thank you. My mom is on chemo, has both shots+ the booster, never left the house except to buy groceries but she got COVID anyway and almost died with it. I live in a really conservative area and nobody masked or got vaccinated. They don’t seem to understand that when they get sicker with it they spread more germs to people like my mom. It’s sad how inconsiderate people are that she has to buy food, too.
It’s sad how inconsiderate people are that she has to buy food, too.
Clot shots are safe for the vaccine makers and effective at killing you.
Eat a d*ck, you vax pushing media whores. Your day will come.
Blood clots are extremely rare with shots. Like one in a million or less. COVID has killed over six million globally. Your risk from not being vaxed and getting COVID is exponentially higher than any risk from the shots. You need to get your information from reliable sources and not political pundits.
If you wanna get really sick, fine, just don’t leave your house for anything while you are and spread your germs to someone that can’t fight an infection. And if you are extremely sick, don’t go to the hospital and take a bed from a vaccinated cancer patient.
Hi, I would like to apply for the shill department
Thank you
Ah yes.. Mr. Carlson? Tucker Carlson? We’ve been expecting you. You’re very qualified for this position.
And yet Florida has done as well or nearly as well as California in overall Covid deaths, especially among the elderly with far fewer deaths increased by other causes (forcing people to stay home increases agitation and loneliness greatly).
It’s almost like the quarantines and forced masking made little to no appreciable difference overall, while increasing hopelessness and anger greatly and sacrificing the economy and ultimately bringing on our current hyperinflation and a strong desire among young people to not ever have to work again. They want free everything and they want anyone but themselves to pay for it.
You see, it’s about more than just vaccines, but overall policies, reactions, the economy and mental health, all of which take their eventual toll (including huge increases in suicides among young people).
But the Left often has a hard time seeing outside its myopic tunnel vision. They prefer to demonstrate “empathy” by screaming at “deplorables” for disagreeing with their views on anything and everything and wishing Covid death upon them, demonstrating their absolute hypocrisy and two-faced “caring”.
Admittedly, the extreme Right can be just as bad and should stay out of people’s bedrooms, but one is forced to choose between the lesser of two absolute evils since true moderates have been forced out of both parties and a 3rd Moderate Party can’t seem to gain any traction as the squeaky, no SCREAMING wheels attract all the attention.
Who’s the real threat to Democracy? Left Wing Commies or Right Wing Fascists? I say they BOTH SUCK. We need moderation and reasonable solutions, not extremist garbage.
Who said anything about anything extreme? People should have a choice to do what they want. It would certainly be nice if people would voluntarily do what they could for the sake of other less fortunate people, though. Whatever quarantine restrictions are in place are pretty tame in comparison with what the million dead Americans have been through and their families. Therapy services for anybody that isn’t coping well with quarantine should be covered by insurance no matter what. Yes, none of this is free, but if the federal government were to quit spending billions in overseas aid on countries that can fend for themselves ie Germany I think it would be possible to cover that with a fairly small tax hike. All I’m saying is, is a mask in Walmart really that big of a thing? I mean, for Christ sakes old people should be able to buy food without suffocating. All I see where I live is whining about mask and shots and not a word about the local hospitals overflowing with dead bodies. People have given up on controlling COVID. Maybe if people willingly work together to control COVID there wouldn’t have mandates. America could learn a lot from south Korea and Japan’s control of COVID.
Death rate per 100,000 people:
Florida – 735.7
California – 705.3
So no, Florida has not done “as well” as California.
US Average – 835.4 (total fatalities to date 1,050,000, 94,680,000 cases)
Worst states are in the south, over 1,000 per 100,000, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia. These states vote heavily red.
Trump’s mistake was based on his ignorance of medical science and his denial of basic facts. As a result, he guaranteed the spread of a disease that killed a disproportionate number of Republican voters who believed him when he spouted his ignorant nonsense that Covid was a (fill in the blank) plot and wasn’t real and could safely be ignored or treated by injection bleach or Ivermectin.
Before you vote for him, or support him, or even listen to him, ask yourself what he has done for you lately? He’s rolled back voters rights, rolled back reproductive rights, emboldened dictators (Putin, Xi, rocket boy), raised the costs of our homes by imposing tariffs on Canadian lumber and aluminum, raised the costs of everything we buy at WalMart by imposing tariffs on China, attempted to overthrow the government on January 6th, poisoned the electoral process, encouraged vigilantism and extremism of all kinds (Proud Boys, KKK, and worse, remember, “fine people on both sides”).
If we TRULY want to make America great again, we absolutely need to get rid of Trump and his neo-fascist brown-shirt allies. We are supposed to be a nation of LAWS, not a cult of personality like Stalin or Mao. Trump is concerned ONLY for himself, look at all his buddies he’s thrown under the bus. He is NOT concerned with you or me or America, and is in fact one of the worst risks to democracy since the founding of the Republic – he will not hesitate to destroy OUR nation to salve HIS own ego.