"Modern" hacked
The RNA sequence in the Moderna vaccine was restored from the remains of ampoules and posted on GitHub
A group of doctors from Stanford University has restored the RNA sequence that is part of the coronavirus vaccine Moderna and has not yet been published anywhere. To do this, the researchers collected and sequenced the remnants of the vaccine from the walls of the ampoule after use. They posted the results of their work on the GitHub web service (Jeong et al., Assemblies-of-putative-SARS-CoV2-spike-encoding-mRNA-sequences-for-vaccines-BNT-162b2-and-mRNA-1273).
This will hardly allow someone to make a vaccine with their own hands, but it will help to more accurately distinguish the RNA of the coronavirus itself from the RNA of the vaccine in biological samples.
The main active ingredient of mRNA vaccines is a viral gene that "infects" human cells and causes them to produce viral proteins. But it is not always possible to directly insert viral RNA into the vaccine. On the contrary, in order to make the cell work with this mRNA as its own, vaccine developers have to carefully edit the original viral sequence. For example, they can replace some nucleotides in it with artificial ones – so that human immune cells do not recognize foreign RNA in it. In addition, regulatory sites have to be added along the edges of the viral gene, which will serve as signals that it is this information that the cell urgently needs to implement.
Thus, the final viral RNA in the vaccine may not be at all similar to the original. And several different mRNA vaccines may be different from each other - depending on the decisions that each particular developer makes.
The first mRNA vaccine against coronavirus that was approved for use was developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. The RNA sequence, which is part of it, was published by WHO in the fall of 2020. But it became widely discussed only in December – after the American developer Bert Hubert analyzed it in detail.
The sequence of the second mRNA vaccine - the Moderna company – has not yet been published in the public domain. Therefore, a group of researchers from Stanford Medical School decided to restore it with their own hands. To do this, they used empty ampoules that were left at the Stanford vaccination center. And since vaccines are usually poured into ampoules with a small margin, the researchers were able to collect the remnants of liquid from the walls, isolate and sequenced the RNA.
To test the effectiveness of their method, the authors of the work did the same with an empty ampoule from under the Pfizer vaccine. They found that the RNA sequence they collected from the Pfizer vaccine coincides with the one they discussed at the end of December 2020. They had nothing to compare their result with the Moderna vaccine, but the sequence turned out to be similar to the one used by Pfizer – at least in size and structure.
At the edges, the "informative" gene sequence in the vaccine turned out to be surrounded by untranslated regions – that is, RNA sites that do not turn into protein, but allow regulating its production. In addition, a signal sequence was found in the protein composition of both vaccines, which "informs" the cell that this protein needs to be exposed to the surface (in order to "show" it to immune cells and thus introduce them to the virus).
Now there are already two mRNA vaccine sequences in the public domain. This, however, does not mean that any enthusiast can assemble a vaccine for himself according to these "schemes". Firstly, these results have not passed the review procedure, so it is impossible to verify their reliability. According to the authors of the study, representatives of Moderna did not respond to their request – thus, they did not confirm or deny the information received. Secondly, mRNA is not the only component of the vaccine. In addition to the genetic material, it also includes stabilizers – for example, lipoproteins, in which RNA is "packed".
Nevertheless, the Stanford researchers believe that their result can then be used in other studies. As vaccination gains momentum, more and more vaccine mRNA appears in the environment and human biomaterials – and well I would like to be able to distinguish it from the original viral RNA, for example, in order to more accurately track the spread of the virus.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru