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by Dr. Doug
February
15, 2021
from
ScienceWithDrDoug Website
In my previous blog, "Will
an RNA Vaccine Permanently Alter My DNA?",
I laid out several molecular pathways that would potentially enable
the RNA in an mRNA vaccine to be copied and permanently integrated
into our DNA.
I was absolutely not
surprised to find that the majority of people claimed that this
prospect was impossible.
In fact, I was expecting
this response, partly because most people don't possess a deep
enough understanding of molecular biology, and partly because
of other implicit biases.
After all, we've been told in no uncertain terms that it would be
impossible for the mRNA in a vaccine to become integrated into our
DNA, simply because,
"RNA doesn't work
that way."
Well, this current
research (SARS-CoV-2
RNA Reverse-Transcribed and Integrated into the Human Genome)
which was released not too long after my original article
demonstrates that yes, indeed,
"RNA does work
that way"...
In my original article, I
spelled out this exact molecular pathway.
Specifically, a new study by MIT and Harvard scientists demonstrates
that segments of the RNA from the coronavirus itself are most likely
becoming a permanent fixture in human DNA (study linked
below).
This was once thought
near impossible, for the same reasons which are presented to assure
us that an RNA vaccine could accomplish no such feat.
Against the tides of
current biological dogma, these researchers found that the genetic
segments of this RNA virus are more than likely making their way
into our genome.
They also found that the
exact pathway that I laid out in my original article is more than
likely the pathway being used (retrotransposon, and in
particular a LINE-1 element) for this retro-integration to occur.
And, unlike my previous blog where I hypothesize that such an
occurrence would be extremely rare (mainly because I was attempting
to temper expectations more conservatively due to the lack of
empirical evidence), it appears that this integration of viral
RNA segments into our DNA is not as rare as I initially
hypothesized.
It's difficult for me to
put a number on the probability due to data limitations present in
the paper, but based on the frequency they were able to measure this
phenomenon in both petri dishes and COVID patients, the probability
is much greater than I initially anticipated.
Due to this current
research, I now place this risk as a more probable event
than my original estimation.
To be fair,
this study didn't
show that the RNA from the current vaccines is being integrated
into our DNA.
However, they did
show, quite convincingly, that there exists a viable cellular
pathway whereby snippets of SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA could become
integrated into our genomic DNA.
In my opinion, more
research is needed to both corroborate these findings, and to close
some gaps.
That being said, this data can be used to make a conjecture as to
whether the RNA present in an RNA vaccine could potentially alter
human DNA.
This is because an
mRNA vaccine consists of snippets
of the viral RNA from the genome of SARS-CoV-2,
in particular, the
current mRNA vaccines harbor stabilized mRNA which encodes the
Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, which is the protein that
enables the virus to bind to cell-surface receptors and infect
our cells.
This was thought near
impossible.
Based on this
ground-breaking study, I would hope that the highly presumptuous
claim that such a scenario is impossible will find its way to
the trash bin labeled:
"Things We Were
Absolutely and Unequivocally Certain Couldn't Happen Which
Actually Happened"...
Although, I have a
suspicious feeling that the importance of this study will be
minimized in quick order with reports from experts who
attempt to poke holes in their work.
It's important to add
that this paper is a pre-print that is not
peer-reviewed yet.
But I went through all of
the data, methods, and results, and I see very little wrong with the
paper, and some gaps that need closing - but, at least from the
standpoint of being able to answer the question:
can RNA from the
coronavirus use existing cellular pathways to integrate
permanently into our DNA...?
From that perspective,
their paper is rock-solid.
Also, please take note
that these are respected scientists from MIT and Harvard.
Quoting from their paper:
"In support of this
hypothesis, we found chimeric transcripts consisting of viral
fused to cellular sequences in published data sets of SARS-CoV-2
infected cultured cells and primary cells of patients,
consistent with the transcription of viral sequences integrated
into the genome.
To experimentally
corroborate the possibility of viral retro-integration, we
describe evidence that SARS-CoV-2 RNAs can be reverse
transcribed in human cells by reverse transcriptase (RT) from
LINE-1 elements or by HIV-1 RT, and that these DNA sequences can
be integrated into the cell genome and subsequently be
transcribed.
Human endogenous
LINE-1 expression was induced upon SARS-CoV-2 infection or by
cytokine exposure in cultured cells, suggesting a molecular
mechanism for SARS-CoV-2 retro-integration in patients.
This novel feature of
SARS-CoV-2 infection may explain why patients can continue to
produce viral RNA after recovery and suggests a new aspect of
RNA virus replication."
Why did these researchers
bother to investigate whether viral RNA could become hardwired into
our genomic DNA?
It turns out their motive
had nothing to do with mRNA vaccines.
The researchers were
puzzled by the fact that there is a respectable number of people who
are testing positive for COVID-19
by PCR long after the infection was
gone.
It was also shown
that these people were not reinfected...
The authors sought to
answer how a PCR test is able to detect segments of viral RNA when
the virus is presumably absent from a person's body.
They hypothesized that
somehow segments of the viral RNA were being copied into DNA and
then integrated permanently into the DNA of somatic cells.
This would allow these
cells to continuously churn out pieces of viral RNA that would be
detected in a PCR test, even though no active infection existed.
Through their
experiments, they did not find full-length viral RNA integrated into
genomic DNA,
rather, they found
smaller segments of the viral DNA, mostly representing the
nucleocapsid (N) protein of the virus, although other viral
segments were found integrated into human DNA at a lower
frequency.
In this paper, they
demonstrate that:
-
Segments of
SARS-CoV-2 Viral RNA can become integrated into human
genomic DNA.
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This newly
acquired viral sequence is not silent, meaning that these
genetically modified regions of genomic DNA are
transcriptionally active (DNA is being converted back into
RNA).
-
Segments of
SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA retro-integrated into human genomic DNA
in cell culture.
This
retro-integration into genomic DNA of COVID-19 patients is
also implied indirectly from the detection of chimeric RNA
transcripts in cells derived from COVID-19 patients.
Although their
RNAseq data suggests that genomic alteration is taking place
in COVID-19 patients, to prove this point conclusively, PCR,
DNA sequencing, or Southern Blot should be carried out on
purified genomic DNA of COVID-19 patients to prove this
point conclusively.
This is a gap
that needs to be closed in the research. The in vitro data
in human cell lines, however, is air tight.
-
This viral
retro-integration of RNA into DNA can be induced by
endogenous LINE-1 retrotransposons, which produce an active
reverse transcriptase (RT) that converts RNA into DNA.
(All humans have
multiple copies of LINE-1 retrotransposons residing in their
genome.).
The frequency of
retro-integration of viral RNA into DNA is positively
correlated with LINE-1 expression levels in the cell.
-
These LINE-1
retrotransposons can be activated by viral infection with
SARS-CoV-2, or cytokine exposure to cells, and this
increases the probability of retro-integration.
Instead of going through
all of their results in detail (you can do that if you like by
reading
their paper), I will answer the big
question on everyone's mind:
If the virus is able
to accomplish this, then why should I care if the vaccine does
the same thing?
Well, first let's just
address the big elephant in the room first.
First,
you should care because,
"THEY TOLD YOU
THAT THIS WAS IMPOSSIBLE AND TO JUST SHUT UP AND TAKE THE
VACCINE."
These pathways that I
hypothesized (and these researchers verified with their
experiments) are not unknown to people who understand molecular
biology at a deeper level.
This is not hidden
knowledge which is only available to the initiated. I can assure
you that the people who are developing the vaccines are people
who understand molecular biology at a very sophisticated level.
So, why didn't they
discover this, or even ask this question, or even do some
experiments to rule it out?
Instead, they just
used superficially simplistic biology 101 as a smoke screen to
tell you that RNA doesn't convert into DNA. This is utterly
disingenuous, and this lack of candor is what motivated me to
write my original article.
They could have
figured this out easily.
Second, there's a big difference between the
scenario where people randomly, and unwittingly, have their
genetics monkeyed with because they were exposed to the
coronavirus, and the scenario where we willfully vaccinate
billions of people while telling them this isn't happening.
Wouldn't you agree?
What is the logic in
saying,
"Well, this bad
thing may or may not happen to you, so we're going to remove
the mystery and ensure that it happens to everyone."?
In my best estimate,
this is an ethical decision that you ought to make, not them.
Third, the RNA in the vaccine is a different
animal than the RNA produced by the virus.
The RNA in the
vaccine is artificially engineered.
First, it is
engineered to stay around in your cells for a much longer
time than usual (RNA is naturally unstable and degrades
quickly in the cell).
Second, it is
engineered such that it is efficient at being translated
into protein (they accomplish this by codon optimization).
Increasing the stability
of the RNA increases the probability that it will become integrated
into your DNA, and, increasing the translation efficiency increases
the amount of protein translated from the RNA if it does happen to
become incorporated into your DNA in a transcriptionally active
region of your genome.
Theoretically, this means
that whatever negative effects are associated with the natural
process of viral RNA/DNA integration, these negative effects could
be more frequent and more pronounced with the vaccine when compared
to the natural virus.
As a side note, these researchers found that the genetic information
for the nucleocapsid "N" protein was, by far, the largest culprit
for being permanently integrated into human DNA (because this RNA is
more abundant when the virus replicates in our cells).
The vaccine, on the other
hand, contains RNA that encodes the Spike (S) protein.
Therefore, if the mRNA
from the vaccine (or subsegments thereof) were to make its way into
a transcriptionally-active region of our genome through a
retro-integration process, it will cause our cells to produce an
over-abundance of Spike protein, rather than N protein.
Our immune system does
make antibodies to both N and S proteins, but it is the Spike
protein which is the prime target for our immune system because it
exists on the outside of the virus.
If our cells become
permanent (rather than temporary) Spike Protein producing
factories due to permanent alteration of our genomic DNA,
this could lead to serious autoimmune problems.
I would imagine that
autoimmunity profiles arising from such a scenario would be
differentiated based on order of events (i.e., whether or not
someone is vaccinated before or after exposure to coronavirus).
Again, this is a theoretical exercise I am presenting for
consideration.
I am not making the claim
that an mRNA vaccine will permanently alter your genomic DNA, and I
didn't make this claim in my first article, although it appears that
troll sites made the fallacious claim that I did.
I simply asked the
question, and provided hypothetical, plausible molecular
pathways by which such an event could occur.
I believe this current
research validates that this is at least plausible, and most likely
probable.
It most certainly
deserves closer inspection and testing to rule this possibility out,
and I would hope that a rigorous and comprehensive test program
would be instituted with the same enthusiasm that propelled the
vaccine haphazardly through the normal safety checkpoints.
Obviously, even given this information, people are still free
to get vaccinated, and will do so according to the overall
balance of risks and rewards that they perceive in their mind.
The purpose of my
article is to make sure you can make that assessment fairly by
possessing all potential risks and rewards, rather than an
incomplete set.
For something as
important as this, you should not be operating in the dark.
I would encourage you to
share this article to let others know of the potential risks and
rewards.
Reference
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