When your body attacks itself
Plus why home tests matter, the woman behind the mRNA vaccine, and stopping the next pandemic.
🦠 How the virus gets your body to attack itself
Remember Yale Immunologist Akiko Iwasaki, to whom we spoke a few weeks ago? She and her team have shared this week the pre-print of their most recent research into Covid-19 and immunity (which, to be clear, has yet to be fully reviewed). They’ve found that Covid-19 patients “exhibit dramatic increases in autoantibody reactivities compared to uninfected controls.”
In plain speak, this means that the virus could be tricking the body into fighting itself. Your antibodies get confused, and instead of fending off the actual pathogen, they work for it. This, in turn, might be driving not just severe Covid, but also long Covid.
In this scenario, nothing gets spared. Your autoantibodies go after organs like your brain (hence the multiple neurological symptoms), the cardiovascular system, the liver, stomach and intestines… But also — and this blew my mind — your defences. That is, the antibodies that could actually fight for you: interferons (remember those proteins that can help you fight viruses?), B cells, and T cells.
From the blurb in The Guardian:
Further tests revealed that the more “autoantibodies” patients had in their blood, the worse their disease. The Covid-19 patients had more antibodies that had turned on them than people with lupus, an autoimmune disease caused by similar wayward antibodies.
In Jason’s words, “that’s fucked up.” I know. Turning your own defences into mercenaries for the invader is some sneaky bullshit. But also, learning about it could open up new avenues for treatment, as for any autoimmune disease. Immunosuppressants, anyone?
How to use this: we’re all obsessed with vaccines, which is fair, given how fantastic they are (have you seen the results? I mean WOW). But treatment is also going to be key to returning to some form of normalcy. Keep an eye out for more on this research.
🎉 Fi 👏na👏lly!👏
Ellume’s rapid, over-the-counter test has FINALLY been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for sale in the U.S.! This is great news. The test will probably cost around $30. You’d collect the sample yourself and get results in 15-20 minutes. It works on kids as young as 2 years old.
To be sure, this is not the easiest, über cheap ($5), rapid (15m) test we so desperately need — that would be BinaxNOW, by Abbott — but this approval is exciting because it could facilitate accession to market for other kinds of home tests.
But Anna, don’t these tests suck compared to the gold-standard PCR tests?
Well, they’re not as sensitive, but their job is not to diagnose you. They’re just a screening device. Think home pregnancy test: if you pee on a stick and that second line appears, chances are, you’re growing a baby, but that’s only your cue to call an obstetrician or a midwife who’ll confirm it for you.
The idea behind these tests is that you would take them often and quickly, and they would catch you at your most contagious. You’d alert work/school/tomorrow’s wedding party, explain that you should isolate, then ring your doctor for a proper diagnosis.
How to use this: if you can afford an Ellume home test, get one. They’re sensitive enough to catch you if you’re asymptomatic, but the cost is prohibitive, so unless you’re centibillionaire Jeff Bezos, you’re not going take them daily, as would be ideal. You could use it as a one-off if you feel poorly, however. They’ll soon be available in California and Florida. Also, follow Michael Mina, of Harvard, who keeps agitating for frequent, accessible testing for all — and keep your fingers crossed that we’ll soon get our hands on super cheap ones.
🧬 The beautiful and infuriating birth of the mRNA vaccine
Luckily for Katalin Karikó, she picked a slightly better time to live than Rosalind Franklin.
Dr Karikó started working on mRNA back in the 1970s, in Hungary where she was born. Then in 1985, with $1200 sewed inside her baby girl’s teddy bear so it wouldn’t get confiscated, she and her family moved to the U.S. She then picked up her research at Temple, then UPenn.
In 1995, when she was diagnosed for cancer, her superiors demoted her, arguing her work was at an impasse. They just took away her lab. Then her kid grew up, became an Olympic gold medalist in rowing… All this before anyone could see the immense potential of her research.
Only two people did. One of them was BioNTech Founder and CEO Uğur Şahin, who brought her in as a Senior VP there. Then Covid hit, and here we are.
So is she seeing the fruits of her labour? Mmmnot really, because even as they doubted her, UPenn kept the patent for the technology she developed. Here’s her story.
Let’s hope the Nobel committee does her justice.
How to use this: need I say this? STOP. UNDERESTIMATING. WOMEN.
🛑 Stopping the next pandemic
It was fascinating. Jonna Mazet and Raina Plowright talked about spillover (when a virus moves from one species to another), how the way we’re treating the planet is increasing the incidence of such events, why scientists really need to talk to non-scientists about this stuff, and why you SHOULD NOT CULL BATS.
How to use this: watch it! Our goal is to help everyone see how crucial science is to our lives, and what we should expect of those we elect into office.
I live for your comments and suggestions. What would you like to read more about? Please send me your tips for topics to cover! hello@rascouet.com.