Another mRNA vaccine surprise

Recently, we highlighted another unexpected discovery, post vaccination, about mRNA injections that baffled everybody. It came as a total surprise!

In hindsight, the value of long-term data is becoming more apparent with regards to developing a vaccine, especially when assessing a brand-new technology that has never been used for people before as an approved treatment. Long-term studies (that are typically done with clinical studies for new medical interventions) perhaps could have, should have and would have helped to detect some of these surprises.

But perhaps not in regards to the example we are about to discuss. That’s because of how much it was NOT expected to be seen. It was not even in our paradigm, it seems, to even look for it.

This big surprise was that some of the mRNA vaccinated population started showing high levels of an unusual type of antibody called IgG4.

And potentially this might be not good news.

More about that in a moment.

Importantly, if this type of antibody is troublesome, seeing as so much of our society has been vaccinated with mRNA injections that may produce these IgG4 antibodies, then how can we stop or minimize the negative consequences?

In discussions with experts on the topic, there is hope, that is why in this post we choose to focus on an optimistic aspect of a possible counter measure: fasting!

Merogenomics covered the emerging science on this topic, so for detailed background be sure to review these popular videos!

There might even be a clue as to why these antibodies emerged as well. For that, see the videos below. It might have to do with how much antigen ends up being presented to the affected system, and the specific type of vaccine might have a pronounced effect.

Now you see me, now you don’t

In essence, IgG4 antibodies are a class of antibody that serve to obscure an invading pathogen (or really, any particular foreign particle) from our immune system for better or worse.

You can think of our immune system as a living organism that grows and responds to the environment. It responds to the complexity of the outside world and then adapts to it.

If our immune system sees the same pathogen over and over and over, eventually it will start acting as if that pathogen is not an assumed threat. Because it is presented so much, it means that it could actually just be a very normal part of our everyday world we live in. If that is the case, then our immune system should not be over-responding to something that is going to be frequently observed in our body because the immune response is going to be costly, and can even be dangerous if unbalanced. Activation of the immune system is not a trifle matter. It always has consequences.

The immune system just trains itself to leave that particular irritant alone.

It appears that it achieves that mechanism through the use of IgG4 antibodies.

So what makes these IgG4 antibodies different?

Well, they can still recognize and bind to the pathogen, but they no longer activate the remainder of the immune system to respond to these specific antibodies.

So IgG4 antibodies act like a camouflage uniform covering the pathogen. Our immune system is made to look past it.

This might be useful for the pathogen from bee stings for a bee keeper, but not for the spike protein presented by a highly circulating virus (SARS-CoV-2).

It could mean that after repeated exposures, the source virus could be free to do whatever it wants because the IgG4 is cloaking it. And this just does not sound like a healthy outlook.

This finally brings us back to fasting.

Cleaned up stomach, cleaned up immune system

So why fasting?

Because fasting apparently can have significant effects on the immune system, and the little science that exists on this understudied topic, suggests that fasting could have HUGE prophylactic and protective role against COVID-19.

Check out Merogenomics videos on that if you want more vital, specific details.

The interesting part is that this is a non-invasive procedure that everyone can easily consider attempting for maximum gain.

Come on, what’s a few burgers less?

So then…

Do we have any scientific evidence that fasting could specifically reduce IgG4 antibodies?

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like this is a topic of much interest to scientists because it doesn’t seem like there is any easily identifiable info on that.

However, there are some studies indicating that fasting could be reducing the class of IgG antibodies in general (meaning all the types of IgG antibodies including IgG4).

And they primarily seem to be based on studying Ramadan fasting effects on IgG antibodies.

Again, it doesn’t seem like that this topic generates much interest in modern medicine. Good thing that at least some deeply curious scientists are interested enough, because this is what we can learn from them.

One study from Turkey showed that IgG antibody levels dropped significantly during Ramadan fasting compared to before Ramadan, and still remained within the normal range.

Because of the significance of the IgG antibody level drop, the authors proposed that it could suggest a change in the immune system response itself (immunomodulation).

Iraqi researchers looked at the effects of Ramadan fasting on blood IgG levels in both healthy subjects and type 2 diabetes patients and found that levels were slightly decreased by the end of Ramadan. They concluded that Ramadan is safe for type two diabetic patients.

And finally, Saudi researchers observed that mean IgG levels were also significantly lower during Ramadan whether measured in the morning or evening. The authors of that publication also mentioned that in Saudi Arabia, the Ramadan fasting is also accompanied by a significant disturbance to the circadian rhythm due to cultural differences of how Ramadan is experienced in that country in comparison to other regions of the world.

The loss of the circadian rhythm observed in Saudi subjects is expected to the increase levels of the cortisol hormone. One major function of cortisol hormone is to suppress the function of many proinflammatory cytokines during stress. That could also play handy in suppressing the levels of IgG antibodies because these proinflammatory cytokines are signal beacons for immune cells to get into action, including the immune cells that produce antibodies.

What was additionally interesting in this particular study was that the authors also monitored the vitamin D levels of fasting participants, and basically all of them were below the optimal vitamin D levels!

That could be an important consideration when thinking of fasting. This study reminds us of one previous study that showed short-term fasting causing a decline in bone formation.

The authors measured vitamin D levels and other parameters precisely to study how bones could be affected. But because the total vitamin D levels were not affected in the participants, while other parameters improved, their final conclusion was that fasting could have possible beneficial effects on bone turnover, while the ability to mount immune responses could be temporarily decreased (due to that significant decrease in IgG antibodies).

The boss in charge

And how could fasting be achieving this reduction in IgG antibodies?

By decreasing the amount of B cells which are responsible for eventually leading to the production of antibodies. This effect has been observed in past studies.

There are also other methods of decreasing type IgG levels, especially IgG4 levels which already need to be dealt with in various autoimmune diseases, thus actual clinical interventions exist, such corticosteroid or antibodies treatments.

If you have been mRNA vaccinated and are concerned (you sense your overall health is not as optimal as you are typically used to), you could consider testing your IgG4 levels and talking to your doctor about it. If your levels are outside normal levels, your doctor might need to send you to specialists dealing with IgG4-related diseases.

At this point we don’t even know how prevalent or rare this situation could be, but it does exist and as a choice of investigation, and as noted above, this has already been documented in some mRNA vaccinated people.

And while you are at it, it is always worth checking your vitamin D levels with your doctor. No need to have deficient levels, which is not good for overall health. If your vitamin D levels are not adequate, fasting (without supplementation) might not be the immediate option to be considering.

Essentially, there appears to be some encouraging, albeit, indirect evidence that fasting could be useful in decreasing IgG4 levels, by leading to decreased overall type IgG levels through the mechanism of B cells. That means, if we have some unwanted antibodies , there at least might be options available to us, especially fasting (independent from clinical intervention, of course).

What we hope for is that everyone is doing well, and that what we actually will be surprised to learn when or if scientists decide to study it, is that IgG4 levels against the spike protein are not actually on the rise in any significant portion of the population.

Stay healthy, live healthfully friends!

This article has been produced by Merogenomics Inc. and edited by Jason Chouinard, B.Sc. Reproduction and reuse of any portion of this content requires Merogenomics Inc. permission and source acknowledgment. It is your responsibility to obtain additional permissions from the third party owners that might be cited by Merogenomics Inc. Merogenomics Inc. disclaims any responsibility for any use you make of content owned by third parties without their permission.