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Help for mRNA vaccinated – protecting the innate immune system

Help for mRNA vaccinated – protecting the innate immune system

26/07/2023
Posted by:

Dr.M.Raszek


Why the mRNA vaccinated should pay attention to their immune responses?

This article is specifically for mRNA vaccinated individuals and provides advice on how to monitor and potentially mitigate unusual and possibly troublesome asymptomatic effects of COVID-19 mRNA injections.

Why such focus on individuals with the mRNA shots?

Because the content herein is specific to effects only observed after mRNA vaccinations!

Well, of course, the understanding of scientific knowledge is constantly evolving as we acquire new information. However, it is essential to emphasize that this fact may not have been adequately communicated to the public when they were asked to accept certain measures, such as receiving mRNA injections, under the premise of being supported by sound science.

Image of Merogenomics article quote on mRNA vaccine help

mRNA vaccinated individuals: what is an issue for you? IgG4 levels!

It has been shown that some individuals who have received at least two doses of either Pfizer or Moderna mRNA injections can develop unusual antibodies called IgG4, and these might potentially be a problem.

This article reviews the information around this surprise phenomenon, and discusses possible options for those affected mRNA individuals.

First of all, this is a totally unexpected consequence of taking the mRNA injections.

But on the other hand, we do not know exactly to what extent this reaction occurs to the mRNA vaccines, and hence Merogenomics wanted to provide a helpful resource, especially for those who might be curious or might be experiencing unexplained symptoms.

The reason why we feel it is imperative to write on this topic is because of the confusion surrounding mRNA injections and their unintended long-term effects along with a certain ingrained hesitation to connect or accept any unconventional suggestions about causes. This strongly reminds us of the same type of medical confusion we have observed in the past when people afflicted with rare genetic conditions seek help: patients with difficult to explain symptoms get bounced around almost aimlessly without any clear direction in a medical system that seems to be perplexed by the unusual observations. In the case of rare diseases, it is not that medical system is not trying. It is that the medical system is relying on standard tests and they are not providing any clear answers. (This was the prime motivation for creating Merogenomics, Inc.: to educate and bring exciting new and valuable genomic testing to the attention of patients and doctors. To elucidate solutions for hard to solve cluster-of-symptom problems with expert genomics sleuthing.)

Sometimes patients persist for years in a constant state of confusion, searching for answers. And it is not just hard on them and their families; it’s also difficult for their doctors who ideally would want to rapidly alleviate the situation. As you can imagine, this is severely frustrating for doctors and patients alike. Doctors who want to heal and are not succeeding. Patients who want to heal and are not succeeding.

We can tell you that in cases of rare genetic disorders, the perplexed doctors are not really to blame. In the confusion surrounding a rare clinical presentation, their natural inclination is protective; they are skeptical of any explanation in order to protect the patient from potential harms that may come from inaccurate diagnosis and treatment.

Unfortunately, sometimes that goes too far, and if there was one wish I could have for doctors in general, it would be to be more open-minded and to listen openly to their patient’s rationale, even if it might sound silly. Sometimes it happens with rare genetic diseases that the patient will be more informed about how to deal with their unusual condition than the treating doctor will - sometimes even because of an ignorance or unwillingness to hear the patient out. Oftentimes the patient might lack the language to describe their symptoms and feelings in a manner that transfers to a complex medical world.

This can lead to unfortunate conflicts between a doctor and a patient, where both parties end up feeling deeply misunderstood in their attempted positive interactions.

We would not be surprised at all if certain patients post-vaccination also experienced such feelings.

But really, it’s all due to confusion during the attempt to figure out what is going on. There are usually very few bad actors; more likely, it’s just lots of confusion.

Right now it appears we are entering into a complex medical situation post-mRNA vaccinations with observations of side effects that are mysterious but potentially requiring vigilant investigations in order to alleviate any suffering or in case we can mitigate any further problems down the road.

So, the surprising (and potentially silent) side effect of concern here is seeing an IgG4 antibodies in some mRNA vaccinated individuals.

 

Why would increased IgG4 antibodies post mRNA vaccination be an issue?

Keep in mind, we are not very sure what all the implications of increasing IgG4 antibodies post vaccination are. There are two main reasons to not ignore this increase though.

First, IgG4 antibodies are already observed to be increased in autoimmune conditions. This is also why we know - to some degree - how to attempt to treat such a biological outcome. Increased levels of IgG4 have previously been confirmed in human diseases, although keep in mind that IgG4s are still poorly understood, and the IgG4 related diseases have only been described since the start of 21st century. We do not have centuries of knowledge to fall back on, but merely two decades!

Second, it is suspected that due to the nature of IgG4 antibodies, they basically help build a tolerance towards the SARS-CoV-2 virus spike protein; of course, this is the exact opposite effect we would want to achieve with vaccinations.

Why? Well, a tolerance of spike proteins would basically mean that our immune system is no longer recognizing them as a threat, but rather a normal presence to be accepted and tolerated. While the authors who first observed this phenomenon might have argued that maybe this is a positive, instead it seems this could cause some serious issues individually and on a population-wide scale.

The positive is that basically this tolerance is achieved by covering up access to the spike protein by antibodies which in effect also prevent spike proteins from doing their job properly for the infecting virus.

But the complication is that these antibodies then possibly block access to the other antibodies that were supposed to signal the immune system to destroy it.

So, let’s talk about possibilities on both the individual and population-wide scale.

First, let’s address the potential issues at the individual scale. We already know now that spike protein can be dangerous (we have not covered this topic in great detail due to the abnormal censorship of any scientific discussion of this topic) in at least three significant ways:

  1. It can damage the blood vessel walls
  2. It can directly promote clot formation
  3. It can hyper-activate platelets which then also can lead to clot formation

And all of these can also contribute to a high inflammation state.

Look, it is emerging that the spike protein is a little monster. The world went into this quite blind, and if there were people who knew this when the pandemic was upon us, no one really heard them or listened.

Thus, it could mean that building a tolerance to spike protein could be bad because an afflicted person could be infected for longer periods of time than desired, which in turn would prolong the exposure to a dangerous protein that could be continually inducing certain damages to tissues.

But besides tolerance to the spike protein, another unwanted issue with enhanced levels of IgG4 antibodies is that they could possibly be interfering with proper training of the innate immune system.

Image of Merogenomics article quote on why mRNA vaccines could be a problem via IgG4 antibodies

By blocking the spike protein’s proper recognition by the immune system, it prevents immune cells from adequately breaking down viruses and presenting the virus’ fragments for training of the immune system to recognize that very exact pathogen. Because in virus infections, it is not just the spike protein that is presented to the immune system decision makers on what to respond to or not (in order to decide what is friendly component of our own system and what is a foreign invader). The entire broken-down virus is presented as tiny fragments. This allows training of the immune system from many different angles (if you ever wondered why natural immunity, when you survive, is so powerful).

Thus, presentation of these virus fragments contributes to the training of the innate immune system, the arm of our immune defenses that is “always on” and is expected to actually clean the bulk of infections prior to needing antibodies to clean up the rest.

If that means that IgG4 antibodies can cause reduced presentation of virus fragments to the immune system, and thus reduced training of the innate immune system, then this could be weakening an vital element of our immunological defenses. Remember, this is an important defense barrier; you weaken that and you open doors for many diseases. Immune systems are not just to keep infections at bay, they are also maintaining our body in a clean healthy state.

Image of Merogenomics article quote on why is innate immune system important

Second, there exists an overall population impact which might not be obvious how it could be adding to potential harms. By shielding the spike protein from proper immunological recognition, IgG4 antibodies could inadvertently steer the virus’ evolution. Certain parts of the spike protein could still be activating the immune system response, but that response would not be directed against ideal elements of the spike protein anymore, as these are now blocked by IgG4s.

This means that the immunological response would be sub-par, and when the immune response is not adequate, that’s the ideal grounds for viruses to thrive just enough that normal mutations that show up all the time when the genetic material of any organism is duplicated, well these random mutations might help the virus to survive even better and thrive even more. This means that viruses with such new mutations could be replicated more over other virus mutations, and just like that, the virus gets triggered by an environment into evolution towards new variants.

Accordingly, if this IgG4 phenomenon is happening on a wide enough population scale, mRNA vaccines could be contributing to viral evolution with unknown future consequences. And if that were to happen to be a more dangerous and more deadly virus, then the very same individuals with IgG4 antibodies would also be at increased risk due to their reduced immunological protection.

The take home message is that increasing levels of IgG4 could be spelling bad news and so this situation surely needs to be monitored and scrutinized.

Overall, you can see why we want to look out for each other if high levels of IgG4 is a common issue, and thus why we think it might be good for the mRNA vaccinated to look into their IgG4 antibody levels.

 

Who among the mRNA vaccinated should look into IgG4 levels?

Surprise findings from the limited data suggests that those individuals who were naturally infected prior to the mRNA gene therapy injections (which we labeled as vaccines due to the fact that gene therapy was undertaken with a genetic code for a substance that is foreign to our bodies, i.e., the viral spike protein), do NOT seem to produce the IgG4 antibodies.

However, those individuals who were not naturally infected prior to mRNA injections appear to produce the IgG4 antibodies if they were boosted (ie. continued to received additional injection/s of mRNA gene therapy) or if they were infected with SARS-CoV-2 after the primary vaccination (infected after receiving the standard two doses of mRNA vaccines; this is commonly referred to as breakthrough infection).

In other words, individuals who were not infected and who then received the mRNA injections, if such individuals subsequently received more mRNA injections or got infected, they could be suspected of developing increased levels of IgG4 antibodies and so should monitor for any such outcomes.

If you mixed and matched vaccines, it might depend on the number of mRNA injections. Was there two or more? If yes, IgG4 antibodies could be an issue.

This information could perhaps be even more pertinent to individuals who are already experiencing any deterioration to their health.

 

How to monitor for IgG4 antibodies?

If you are seriously concerned then you will most likely have to investigate this on your own dime using a commercially available assay. Doctors might not be aware of this emerging situation, yet.

The one IgG4 antibodies test we would recommend would be the one offered by the Mayo clinic. This is a world-renowned medical facility and doctors in general will at least be familiar with the clinic name (but please do not expect your doctor to know about IgG4 antibodies – these are too rare for many doctors to be familiar, for this is more in the realm of medical specialization. Remember, doctors are only human, even if they do accumulate an amazing medical knowledge that sometimes defies belief. This just might not be on the radar as of yet).

If your IgG4 antibodies are outside the normal range, then this is where you can bring up the issue with your doctor, potentially indicating a referral to an immune system specialist.

The nice thing about the Mayo clinic assay is that any regular doctor will know they can automatically trust the quality of that test. The clinic is that famous.

 

How to respond to the situation?

Obviously, this is important question and Merogenomics did a video dedicated to this very topic, investigating both standard medical approaches as well as non-standard.

The good news is that there is are medical recourses available if anyone is seriously affected.

(We will not belabour these topics here as they are covered in the “let’s spend some time outside” video because we want to loop back to the topic of protecting your innate immunity.)

As stated above, IgG4 antibodies could be blocking proper training of the innate immunity. That is the scientific way of saying that the ability to modulate the innate immunity is officially referred to as trained immunity.

And the reason why this form of training is so important is because such trained immunity can be non-specific, meaning it can help protect against totally unrelated pathogens.

How is that?

Because innate immunity is trained to recognize the arrangements of sugar molecules on the surface of pathogens. And these patterns can be shared between different pathogens. As a consequence, training of innate immunity with one pathogen could provide protection against other pathogens as well.

 

How to boost your personal innate immunity?

Now maybe you can appreciate how valuable it is to train the innate immunity.

And why dysregulating its training by IgG4 antibodies could be serious if indeed there is this direct link.

And although it is still a tenuous connection (meaning: we need to learn more!) between these factors, this brings us to unique possibility of helping the disturbed immune system in the vaccinated population.

If the innate immune system is indeed dysregulated in the mRNA vaccinated individuals, could we help improve the training if the innate immunity?

This is where β-glucans come in; they are complex sugar molecules derived from microorganisms that are known to help train the innate immunity - also a topic of one of our most recent videos.

It looks like those specific immune cells that break down pathogens can subsequently release the β-glucans which were adorning the microorganism’s surface and thus provoke an immune response reaction, including those of the innate immune cells. And along the way, the interaction with these sugar patterns helps to train the innate immune cells to recognize such patterns for future encounters with an enhanced efficiency.

Thus, could we be helping individuals to train their innate immune systems with simple supplementation of β-glucans? And could this be extended to individuals with high levels of IgG4 antibodies?

While this next section is a bit more theoretical, perhaps it is not without merit. β-glucans have been proposed as an adjuvant to COVID-19 vaccines!

β-glucans, once they interact with the innate immune cells (by binding to various receptors for these complex sugar patterns with receptors adorning the surface of these immune cells), they trigger innate immune cells into action, which includes phagocytosis (putting it bluntly, that is swallowing the offending molecule whole) and the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines (a chemical language of the immune cells used to tell each other what to do). In this context, inflammation signals activate the immune system which is brought into action at the site of a problem (such as infection, cancer growth or dying tissue).

As a consequence, β-glucans appear to have broad protective effects against infections. It has even been used in surgery patients to reduce the likelihood of infection.

It may be no surprise then that β-glucans have been studied in the past as a potential adjuvant to be co-administered with vaccines, and that they have also been proposed to be used alongside the COVID-19 vaccines. Just for reference, adjuvants are little side kicks that promote a more vigorous immune system response during a vaccine injection.

The only problem is that β-glucans easily come from mould fungi, yeasts, mushrooms, some algae, and cereals, such as oats, barley, rye and wheat. Which means that if it is not an patentable, expensive drug that can make tons of money, there is little financial incentive in studying these important molecules to benefit our health. Science is very expensive, and clinical studies even more so, and so without a high return on risky investment, these natural compounds suffer a similar fate to many other natural remedies of even the highest potential; they are left in their sad lonely corner of oblivion until we figure out how to be smarter with our investments to know how to use mother nature to our health’s best benefit.

And judging how it is these financial benefits that can drive dubious medical actions even in proclaimed medical emergencies (and how resistant we become to admitting potential mistakes), that sad lonely corner of oblivion occupied by these natural remedies seems destined to endure its fate for some time to come.

Luckily for all of us though, as much as money moves the scientific world around, the governing principles of science with the deepest impact still have the drive to satisfy their curiosity.

Which means slowly but surely, we always discover, and we learn, and that includes learning how once popular dogmas might turn out to be false, and how simple methods might keep our health stronger.

We just have to be willing to listen first, and then decide.

And that’s exactly what prompted the creation of this blog post.

In the meantime, β-glucans look like a super interesting option to help our innate systems in the time of need!

Which might be right about now, more than ever.

 

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.