The Inverse Vaccine's Crusade Against Multiple Sclerosis and Other Autoimmune Diseases

In the human body, there are many diverse communities working together to protect and nourish their beloved realm. The humblest among them are the Peasant Microbes from our microbiome, the first line of defense, always ready to shield their territory from the nefarious invaders keen on causing havoc.

And then there is the skin - the high stone walls of the castle, which act as a barrier to prevent the invaders from entering. These walls are fortified with various defensive structures like water barriers and parapets, representing the different layers of the immune system that use various methods to deter the assault of pathogens. 

Then, we have the Jedi Masters of the immune system, the T cells. These are seasoned warriors, adept in distinguishing friend from foe. They patrol our body, teaching the younger warriors the art of recognizing and defeating the intruders. They hold the precious memories of past battles, ensuring that future attacks can be fended off swiftly and efficiently.

However, there came a time when these warriors could no longer tell friend from foe, leading them to attack the very thing they were sworn to protect - the Myelin, a protective sheath that covered the nerves of the kingdom, the pathways that communicated messages throughout the land. This tragedy unfolded as a vicious disease, making the residents suffer from weakness, numbness, and the loss of vital functionalities.

In the midst of this crisis, the magical "Inverse Vaccine" was proposed, which promised to restore peace and harmony in the land.

This Inverse Vaccine was a gentle teacher invoking mechanisms of immune tolerance. Through the utilization of a special sugar called N-acetylgalactosamine or pGal, it marked molecules with "do not attack" flags, mimicking the peaceful liver’s natural process of marking aged cells as friends, not foes. These molecules were sent to the great Liver School, where the T cell warriors were educated to differentiate between the true invaders and the kingdom's loyal citizens.

The T cells, now wise and compassionate, ceased their attack on the loyal myelin. This allowed the nerves to flourish once again, reviving the kingdom to its original glory, where each component worked in unison, guarding their territory while nurturing their community, promising a future of health and prosperity.

REFERENCE

Tremain, A.C., Wallace, R.P., Lorentz, K.M. et al. Synthetically glycosylated antigens for the antigen-specific suppression of established immune responses. Nat. Biomed. Eng 7, 1142–1155 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-023-01086-2

The Omicron

On 26 November 2021, WHO designated the variant B.1.1.529 a variant of concern, named Omicron. It is associated with substantial ability to evade immunity from prior infection. But many important questions about this variant's severity remain unanswered.

Omicron has more than 30 mutations in the spike protein targeted by COVID-19 vaccines. H655Y (Histidine at position 655 substituted by Tyrosine; first detected in Brazil) was previously shown to confer escape from human monoclonal antibodies. Another mutation borrowed from Gamma variant, N679K, may also increase infectivity.

Cases in US: 

California man who returned from South Africa mild (was fully vaccinated)

Minnesota man who recently traveled to NYC for a 3-day anime festival - mild (was fully vaccinated)

New York already had cases by that time one of which was a traveler returning from South Africa, 10 cases identified by December 5

Nebraska man who brought it from Nigeria and passed it to 5 other people, only one of whom was vaccinated

Wisconsin man tested positive for Omicron after a recent trip to South Africa 

The 1st Hawaii case is a 65 with no history of travel outside state who already had COVID-19 before. 

A middle-aged woman who recently traveled from South Africa became both New Jersey and Georgia’s first confirmed case after seeking care for moderate symptoms at an emergency room. 

640 deaths since Omicron dominant in South Africa

1st death confirmed in UK on Dec. 13 2021

REFERENCES

Juliet R.C. Pulliam, Cari van Schalkwyk, Nevashan Govender, Anne von Gottberg, Cheryl Cohen, Michelle J. Groome, Jonathan Dushoff, Koleka Mlisana, Harry Moultrie Increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection associated with emergence of the Omicron variant in South Africa  medRxiv 2021.11.11.21266068; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.11.11.21266068 

Rapp M, Shapiro L, Frank J. Contributions of single-particle cryoelectron microscopy toward fighting COVID-19. Trends in biochemical sciences.:S0968-0004.

Liu L., et al. Potent neutralizing antibodies against multiple epitopes on SARS-CoV-2 spike. Nature. 2020;584:450–456.

August 12

When we thought COVID-19 was over, as more individuals were vaccinated against the deadly virus, the fourth wave of the pandemic struck, fueling a rise in breakthrough infections. 

We have documented several cases of fatal breakthrough infections. Publishing it is not easy because of many biases. 

Science has been always linked to the politics of society. Current political polarization hinders not only effective COVID-19 pandemic mitigation measures but also impedes research on side effects of vaccines and fatal breakthrough infections in healthy individuals. Social media fuels the divide encouraging toxic discussion, favoring rude and disrespectful comments. 

Publishing bias is another issue since scientific journals prefer to publish positive results discriminating against negative or null results. 

But we have many documented cases from the COVID-back-to-normal study and information about other COVID victims from genealogy and other sources. Let the truth be told. 

REFERENCES

Berkessel J, Ebert T, Gebauer J, Jonsson T, Oishi S. Pandemics Initially Spread Among People of High (not Low) Social Status: Evidence from COVID-19 and the Spanish Flu. PsyArXiv, 12 Jan. 2021. [example of using genealogy sites for medical research]

Gabashvili IS. Community-Based Phenotypic Study of Safety, Tolerability, Reactogenicity and Immunogenicity of Emergency-Use-Authorized Vaccines Against COVID-19 and Viral Shedding Potential of Post-Vaccination Infections: Protocol for an Ambispective study. medRxiv. 2021 Jun 1. medRxiv 2021.06.28.21256779; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.28.21256779