Winning The Biological Arms Race

The human immune system (and indeed, other immune systems, but we are all humans here, after all) is in a constant state of war with pathogens, and that war is a constant biological arms race:

• We improve our defenses and destroy the attackers; the 1% of pathogens that survived now “know” how to counter that trick.
• The pathogens wreak havoc in our systems; the n% of us that survive now have immune systems that “know” how to counter that trick.

Vaccines are a mighty tool in our favor here, because they’re the technology that stops our n% from also being a very low number.

With vaccines, we can effectively pass on established defenses onto the population at large, as this cute video explains very well and very simply in 57 seconds:

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The problem with vaccines

The problem is that this accelerates the arms race. It’s like a chess game where we are able to respond to every move quickly (which is good for us), and/but this means passing the move over to our opponent sooner.

That problem’s hard to avoid, because the alternative has always been “let people die in much larger numbers”.

Traditional vs mRNA vaccines

A quick refresher before we continue to the big news of the day:

• Traditional vaccines use a disabled version of a pathogen to trigger an immune response that will teach the body to recognize the pathogen ready for when the full version shows up
• mRNA vaccines use a custom-made bit of genetic information to tell the body to make its own harmless fake pathogen and then respond to the harmless fake pathogen it made.

Note: this happens independently of the host’s DNA, so no, it does not change your DNA

See also: The Truth About Vaccines

Here’s a more detailed explainer (with a helpful diagram) using the COVID mRNA vaccine as an example:

Genome.gov | How does an mRNA vaccine work?

However, this still leaves us “chasing strains”, because as the pathogen (in this case, a virus) adapts, the vaccine has to be updated too, hence all the boosters.

This is a lot like a security update for your computer’s antivirus software. They’re annoying, but they do an important job.

No more “chasing strains”

The press conference soundbite on this sums it up well:

❝Scientists at UC Riverside have demonstrated a new, RNA-based vaccine strategy that is effective against any strain of a virus and can be used safely even by babies or the immunocompromised.❞

~ Jules Bernstein

Read in full: Vaccine breakthrough means no more chasing strains

You may be wondering: what makes this one effective against any strain?

❝What I want to emphasize about this vaccine strategy is that it is broad.

It is broadly applicable to any number of viruses, broadly effective against any variant of a virus, and safe for a broad spectrum of people. This could be the universal vaccine that we have been looking for.

Viruses may mutate in regions not targeted by traditional vaccines. However, we are targeting their whole genome with thousands of small RNAs. They cannot escape this.❞

~ Dr. Rong Hai

Importantly, this means it can be applied not just to one disease, let alone just one strain of COVID. Rather, it can be used for a wide variety of viruses that have similar viral functions—COVID / SARS in general, including influenza, and even viruses such as dengue.

How it does this: the above article explains in more detail, but in few words: it targets tiny strings of the genome that are present in all strains of the virus.

Illustrative example: if you wanted to block 10almonds (please don’t), you could block our email address.

But if we were malicious (we’re not) we could be sneaky and change it, so you’d have to block the new one, and the cycle repeats.

But if you were block all emails containing the tiny string of characters “10almonds”, changing our email address would no longer penetrate your defenses.

Now imagine also blocking strings such as “One-Minute Book Review” and “Today’s almonds have been activated by” and other strings we use in every email.

Now multiply this by thousands of strings (because genomes are much larger than our little newsletter), and you see its effectiveness!

Great! How can I get this?

It’s still in the testing stages for now; this is “breaking news” science, after all.

The study itself

…is paywalled for now, sadly, but if you happen to have institutional access, here it is:

Live-attenuated virus vaccine defective in RNAi suppression induces rapid protection in neonatal and adult mice lacking mature B and T cells

Take care!

Most people associate seasonal allergies with itchy eyes and stuffy noses, but the effects can go a lot deeper.

This is because allergic reactions don’t just affect the respiratory system; they trigger chronic inflammation throughout the body, and in fact:

❝Allergic disease is a systemic and inflammatory condition❞

~ Dr. Rauno Joks, whose work we will cite in a moment

The important thing to understand in terms of heart health, is that chronic* systemic inflammation can contribute to coronary artery disease, where plaque buildup in arteries (bearing in mind, arterial plaque is in large part made of dead immune cells) raises the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

*Yes, a season once or twice per year counts as “chronic”.

A large (n=603,140) study found that allergic rhinitis (hay fever) increased the odds of coronary heart disease by 25% and heart attacks by 20%. Asthma, especially during flare-ups, posed an even greater risk:

The Relationship Between Allergic Rhinitis, Asthma, and Cardiovascular Disease in the National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS)

Beyond biology

The effects aren’t just biological; allergies can limit physical activity, leading to a sedentary lifestyle that harms heart health.

In other words: if you’re not going outdoors because there’s pollen, and you’re not exercising because you’re exhausted, then the rest of your health is going to take a nose-dive (so to speak) too.

So, one more reason to take it seriously and not just dismiss it as “it’s just allergies, I’ll survive”.

Practical takeaways

Some things we can all do:

• Monitor your risk factors; i.e. keep on top of your heart health metrics, especially blood pressure and cholesterol, as well as any known genetic predisposition to cardiovascular disease.
• Watch out for alternative causes: symptoms like fatigue or shortness of breath may not always be allergies; they could signal asthma, reflux (for example if wheezing), or even heart disease. An allergist is a good first port-of-call, though.
• Be cautious with medications: some decongestants / allergy meds / asthma meds can raise blood pressure and/or interfere with other medications. Your pharmacist is the best person to speak to about this; they know this kind of thing much better than doctors, as a rule. And whenever you get a new medication, it is good practice to make a habit of always reading the information leaflet that comes with it, and/or look it up on a reputable website such as Drugs.com or the the BNF, to learn about what it is, how it works, what the risks are, what its contraindications are, etc.
• Don’t ignore warning signs: lightheadedness or chest pain could indicate a heart issue and should be addressed immediately. It’s better to be wrong and temporarily embarrassed, than wrong and permanently dead. Besides, even if it’s not a heart issue, it may be something else that would benefit from attention, so taking it seriously is always a good idea.

Want to know more?

Check out:

• What Your Mucus Says About Your Health
• Antihistamines’ Generation Gap
• Oh, Honey: The Bee’s Knees? ← what science has to say about “honey will inoculate you against allergies”

Take care!