MB Comment: One dirty little secret about vaccines is that scientists never really understood how aluminum adjuvants work. Aluminum salt adjuvants are added to vaccines to enhance immune response. Why? Just because. Just because they seem to work even though no one knows the mechanism. That is ‘science’ for you — the kind of ‘trust us, vaccines are safe’ science cited by Offit and Mnookin to justify vaccination.
Now we find out aluminum kills cells and releases host DNA. Does anyone have a clue what cell death and DNA release does to the health of the vaccinated host? Of course not. What about autoimmunity? Randomly releasing host DNA into an artificially-enhanced immune response has the potential to trigger an autoimmune malfunction. The Merck Manual defines encephalitis as ‘a virus or vaccine triggers a reaction that makes the immune system attack brain tissue (an autoimmune reaction).’
This new study avoids that issue but concludes: ‘The finding that host DNA released from dying cells acts as a damage-associated molecular pattern that mediates alum adjuvant activity may increase our understanding of the mechanisms of action of current vaccines and help in the design of new adjuvants.’
In other words: They don’t understand the ‘mechanism of action’ of current vaccines and they are looking for something else to replace aluminum adjuvants.
Doesn’t that fill you with overwhelming confidence in the FDA-approved and CDC-recommended vaccine schedule?
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An Unexpected Actor in Vaccination: Our Own DNA
‘Alum, a salt of aluminium, is currently by far the most widely used vaccine adjuvant. Developed in the middle of the 20th century, alum has largely demonstrated its effectiveness and safety of use. That it is why it is found in numerous vaccines. Tens of millions of doses of alum are thus administered each year, and each person in our Western societies has probably received alum at least once in their life. Nevertheless, alum was developed in a relatively empirical manner; the way it helps the immune system to respond to vaccines had not been properly understood up until now.’
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DNA released from dying host cells mediates aluminum adjuvant activity
‘Aluminum-based adjuvants (aluminum salts or alum) are widely used in human vaccination, although their mechanisms of action are poorly understood. Here we report that, in mice, alum causes cell death and the subsequent release of host cell DNA, which acts as a potent endogenous immunostimulatory signal mediating alum adjuvant activity. Furthermore, we propose that host DNA signaling differentially regulates IgE and IgG1 production after alum-adjuvanted immunization. We suggest that, on the one hand, host DNA induces primary B cell responses, including IgG1 production, through interferon response factor 3 (Irf3)-independent mechanisms. On the other hand, we suggest that host DNA also stimulates ‘canonical’ T helper type 2 (TH2) responses, associated with IgE isotype switching and peripheral effector responses, through Irf3-dependent mechanisms. The finding that host DNA released from dying cells acts as a damage-associated molecular pattern that mediates alum adjuvant activity may increase our understanding of the mechanisms of action of current vaccines and help in the design of new adjuvants.’
