Bristling cells
Because of the vaccine, the cell becomes overgrown with coronavirus spikes, and this is good
Anatoly Glossev, Vesti
Image of spike-like proteins growing on the surface of a "vaccinated" cell. Illustration University of Southampton (First images of cells exposed to COVID-19 vaccine reveal the production of native-like Coronavirus spikes) – VM.
What should I say to a person who is afraid that a coronavirus vaccine created in record time will embed an alien gene in his DNA, because of which he will "grow a tail"? That's about how it will be. Only the "tails" (more precisely, spikes) will grow not in the vaccinated person himself, but only in a few of his cells, which will then die. And that there is nothing to be afraid of, because that's how everything should work. And, as biologists have now seen, this is really how it works.
However, about everything in order. Any virus is actually a walking genetic instruction for the production of new viruses. The instruction cannot execute itself, so the virus cannot reproduce outside the cell. But it is perfectly read by the systems of the infected cell that read its own DNA, and instead of normal operation, the cell produces more and more viruses. Which, in the end, ruins her.
However, scientists have put this principle at the service of humanity. An example of this is the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca.
This drug contains genetically modified chimpanzee adenovirus. Experts have built into it the coronavirus genes responsible for the formation of special proteins called spike-protein (spike-protein, S-protein or S-protein). It is with their help that a malicious pathogen attaches to the cell, and then penetrates into it. This is how infection occurs.
When a vaccine gets into a human cell (more precisely, as we remember, a modified chimpanzee adenovirus), it receives a genetic command to grow "spikes" and practically turns into a hedgehog. The cell is overgrown with spikes containing an alien to man, but native to the coronavirus, S-protein.
By the way, this does not threaten the body in any way. After all, the adenovirus from the vaccine does not multiply in the human body. Only those few cells into which he got after the injection of the vaccine "mutate". Then they die, which is also not terrible: our body easily replaces them with new cells with native DNA.
However, the immune system does not think that everything is fine. Any foreign protein in the sponsored organism is like a red rag for a bull for her. The immune system, recognizing a stranger in its domain, urgently invents antibodies that block this protein and remembers their "recipe".
When a real SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus enters the body, the immune system quickly recognizes a familiar protein and immediately produces antibodies against it using "established technology", without wasting time on selecting the right antibodies "from scratch". This is the meaning of vaccination.
But are the spikes that overgrow the cell really similar enough to the "main weapon" of the virus? Now biologists can unequivocally say: "Yes, and we saw it with our own eyes."
The researchers used cryo-electron microscopy to obtain thousands of images of cells "bristling" under the action of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
A meticulous study of these data showed that the spikes grown in the cells are really very similar to the spikes of SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, glycan carbohydrates, which are covered with a protein spike, also resemble "natural coronavirus" in composition. All this suggests that the vaccine works as intended.
By the way, the Russian vaccine "Sputnik-V" has a similar principle of action. Only it uses human adenoviruses, not chimpanzees. But, so that they do not multiply in the vaccinated person's body, the corresponding genes are also taken away from them.
A scientific article with the results of the study was published in the journal ACS Central Science (Watanabe et al., Native-like SARS-CoV-2 Spike Glycoprotein Expressed by ChAdOx1 nCoV-19/AZD1222 Vaccine).
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