Jonathan Collin, MD

Prions and the mRNA Vaccine Spike Protein

Let me say that I know very little about mRNA vaccines, even less about prions, and tying the two together may seem not only implausible but preposterous.  Stephanie Seneff, Anthony Kyriakopoulos, Greg Nigh, and Peter McCullough make the case that the spike protein of the mRNA vaccine has prion-like characteristics in their paper, “SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein in the Pathogenesis of Prion-like Diseases,” published in Diseases in August 2022.¹  If you are like me, the first thing you think about when someone says “prion” is mad cow disease.  Cattle developing this fatal disorder experience horrible neurologic and physical symptoms with no effective palliative much less curative treatment.  Humans who develop Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD) suffer a similar fate experiencing memory deficits and dementia, involuntary movements, progressive debilitating weakness, eventual incapacitation, and finally death in one to two years.  Like mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) there is no effective treatment. An important consideration is that there is a lengthy period of time before symptoms develop in prion diseases, typically 20 or more years. 

Seneff et al. cite a case report by the late Nobel-Prize-winning French immunologist, Luc Montagnier, renowned for his HIV studies, documenting 26 patients developing CJD-like illness following their receiving a Covid-19 vaccine.² The majority of these patients were dead in less than six months. Seneff, an M.I.T. professor who has written extensively about her concerns with profligate use of glyphosate, the main ingredient of Roundup, opines why wouldn’t these patients dying from CJD following Covid-19 vaccine create concern about the safety of these vaccines? Indeed, as Seneff et al. document in their paper, the mRNA spike protein demonstrates many characteristics typical of a prion.  

So what is a prion?  It was named by Stanley Prusiner in 1982 by combining protein and infection to define a proteinaceous infectious particle.  Unlike a virus, bacteria, fungus, or parasite, a prion contains no DNA or RNA, although the prion interacts with mRNA.  A prion is capable of transmitting its misfolded structure to a normal-shaped protein; it is the misfolding of the three-dimensional structure that confers infectious prion activity.

Kuru is a prion-based disease discovered among the Fore people of Papua New Guinea.  Before the 1960s the Fore engaged in cannibalism of the dead as a means of assisting their deceased’s spirits as well as nourishment.  Men would eat the muscular flesh, while women and children would eat the remaining organs, including the brain.  The brain tissue was especially rich in infectious prion causing women and children to be more likely than the men to develop kuru.  Symptomatic disease did not develop immediately, frequently taking 10 to as much as 50 years to appear.  Symptomatic individuals initially had shaking tremors and uncontrolled laughter as well as mispronounced speech.  As the disease evolved, individuals showed progressive wasting, weakness, inability to stand, and dementia. 

After 1960, cannibalism was outlawed and the incidence of kuru plummeted.  However, consumption of vegetation or animal meat found near where a victim of kuru was buried served as a further source of infection. Moreover, the incidence of kuru was higher in the highlands of New Guinea than elsewhere because women were tasked with cleaning the dead prior to burial; superficial transmission via leg wound contamination was thought to be an additional means for how kuru spread. Although the prion of kuru has no DNA, individuals in New Guinea were thought to have some measure of genetic immunity diminishing progression of the disease. But not all prions manifest as a spongiform encephalopathy or fatal disease.

Protein structured in our body as “cellular” prion (PrP^c) is definitely different from infectious prion termed scrapie prion (PrP^Sc).  In fact, PrP^c serve a variety of important cellular functions, including support of cellular membranes.  The unique prion structure facilitates cellular adhesion and cell-to-cell communication, which contributes to memory functioning in the brain.  Of note is that PrP^c is capable of being digested by various proteinases that is distinctly different from the infectious PrP^Sc,  which cannot be digested by any enzymes. 

Another distinction is that PrP^c structurally is an alpha helix whereas the PrP^Sc  has misfolded into a beta sheet structure.  This enables the infectious prion to form “fibrils” of amyloid that are capable of forming plaque.  The fibrils also can grow by attaching “free” PrP^c proteins causing fiber growth. Generally, PrP^Sc can only attach PrP^c that share the same amino acid structure.  This is important to consider in our subsequent discussion about the significance of mRNA spike protein’s capability of acting as though a prion.

The reason PrP^Sc is considered infectious is because of the ongoing interaction with cellular prions that transform the PrP^c into PrP^Sc. As this process accelerates, symptomatology of a spongiform encephalopathy ensues.  However, abnormal prion behavior causing amyloid formation is also associated with other neurologic disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and ALS.  If a treatment or vaccine were to facilitate prion misfolding, one should be concerned about the possibility of potential future neurodegeneration.

Seneff et al. introduce us to “G Quadruplexes,” a unique nucleotide sequence in human prion protein mRNA.  In particular the ribonucleotide, guanine, is utilized to optimize the mRNA Covid-19 vaccine production.  Seneff et al. explain that mRNA employs redundant nucleotide codes for most amino acids.  While the SARS-CoV-2 virus uses a specific nucleotide sequence to code for forming the spike protein, vaccine manufacturing has altered the virus nucleotide sequence to optimize protein assembly enabling more efficient vaccine production.  The most efficient sequences contain more guanine than the other nucleotides–adenine, thymine, and uracil.  The redundancy of guanine, meaning a guanine followed by another guanine, followed by another guanine, followed by another guanine produces G Quadruplex structures(G4).  G4s are conjectured to be critical in the misfolding characteristic of prions. 

In a paper by McKernan, Kyriakopoulos, and McCullough, it was observed that the native virus spike protein mRNA could only form 4 G4 sequence “motifs.”³  The spike protein mRNA engineered for the Pfizer vaccine was able to form 9 G4 sequences while the Moderna vaccine mRNA was capable of forming 19 G4 sequences. R.C.L.Olsthoorn wrote that “the presence of G4 forming motifs in PrP mRNA may provide the missing link to the initial conversion of PrP^c to PrP^Sc. Understanding how mRNA structures are involved in the misfolding of PrP^Sc…is of prime importance for the development of better treatments for CJD and related diseases.”⁴

 As of October 2022, 12.7 billion doses of mRNA Covid-19 vaccines have been administered world-wide.  Thus, a large percentage of humans have been exposed to the mRNA spike protein.  The possibility that some individuals will now have an increased risk for developing prion-like illness is very concerning. Emergency use authorization of the mRNA vaccine technology may have been appropriate at the early phase of the pandemic.  However, now that we are aware that mRNA technology poses risks, significant risks, it behooves vaccine makers to revise their manufacturing process to lower the risk especially for possible exposure to prion.

Disciplinary Action for Doctor’s “Covid-19 Misinformation” is Granted an Injunction by Appeals Court

The Washington State Medical Commission initiated an investigation of medical misconduct against retired ophthalmologist Richard Eggleston for writing in a local newspaper unproven opinions about how Covid-19 should be treated in 2021.  The medical board had decreed that MDs were forbidden to promulgate misinformation about the treatment of the virus and the vaccine.  Eggleston’s actions were considered to be “unprofessional conduct, moral turpitude, misrepresentation, and interference with an investigation.”  The doctor has maintained his innocence defending his writing as constitutionally guaranteed by the First Amendment.⁵  

The Washington State Appeals Court granted an emergency injunction halting further disciplinary action by the medical board until the court would be able to fully examine the case.  Court Commissioner Hailey Landrus deemed that Eggleston’s argument that his freedom of speech is being impeded by the state’s prohibition of “misinformation” is a valid reason to halt further disciplinary action. Dr. Eggleston’s commented after the ruling: “I’m very happy to see that this part of the legal system understands this First Amendment issue and basic rights to get accurate information from a physician.”

During the early days of the pandemic, social media censored any information that disagreed with information by public health authorities.  State medical boards established policies enjoining all physicians to desist from spreading “misinformation” about masking, vaccination, and Covid-19 treatment subject to professional misconduct disciplinary action.  Physicians critical of public health policy spoke and wrote under threat of being delicensed.  It is gratifying that the courts are now beginning to examine the policies of medical boards intended to muzzle physicians. Let us hope that Eggleston wins his appeal!

Treating Liver Cancer with Alpha Lipoic Acid and Low Dose Naltrexone by Burt Berkson, MD, PhD

The death cap mushroom, Amanita phalloides, is responsible worldwide for most mushroom poisonings, although more than 100 mushroom species pose varying levels of toxicity on consumption.  Mushroom foraging is a very popular activity, but misidentification infrequently leads to a bad stomachache; but a stew of amanita will rapidly necrotize the liver with ensuing death. Liver transplantation is generally the only remedy for liver necrosis secondary to mushroom poisoning.  End-stage chronic liver disease is generally untreatable except with liver transplant.  However, in the late 1970s Dr. Burt Berkson was overseeing several patients with severe liver disease who were not availed the option of organ transplant as the surgery had not yet been perfected.  He learned from a colleague at the N.I.H. that a unique chemical, alpha lipoic acid, demonstrated remarkable ability to help regenerate the liver.

Berkson administered lipoic acid intravenously to these patients over a few weeks and dramatically restored normal liver functioning.  Lipoic acid had already demonstrated early evidence as a support for diabetes and diabetic neuropathy, but liver regeneration was a serendipitous observation.  Berkson’s work as a resident in internal medicine in Cleveland treating end-stage liver disease culminated in two papers reporting that 75 of 79 patients treated with lipoic acid overcame their liver necrosis successfully regenerating their liver.  He was admonished not to publicize his results because it would hurt the nascent transplant field. 

What is alpha lipoic acid and why would it have demonstrable benefit for diabetes and neuropathy, much less end-stage liver disease and even hepatoma?  It is an organosulfur compound derived from caprylic acid (octanoic acid).  It is a natural biochemical that is made in most animals and humans and is essential for aerobic metabolism.  Lipoic acid participates in the citric acid cycle and other key mitochondrial enzymatic pathways.  It is an antioxidant but it may be that the restorative activity of lipoic acid involves prooxidant activity, similar to how ascorbic acid is an antioxidant but exerts anti-viral effects through prooxidant activity.  Lipoic acid is chiral, meaning it exists as an “R” enantiomer (RLA) and an “S” form (SLA).  Typically, lipoic acid is manufactured as a racemic mixture of RLA and SLA; this is the form of alpha lipoic acid Berkson uses in his intravenous infusions.

Berkson has had clinical success managing patients with cirrhosis and hepatitis-C.  In addition to the lipoic acid infusions, treatment requires the use of selenium and silymarin.  One of Berkson’s case reports involved successful treatment of pancreatic cancer using alpha lipoic acid infusions with nighttime oral low dose naltrexone (LDN).  The use of naltrexone in the treatment of cancer is an ongoing research interest for Dr. Berkson.  LDN has demonstrated a remarkable spectrum of support for autoimmune illness, pain management, neurologic disease, and mental disorders (see LDNresearchtrust.org).  In this issue Berkson details the treatment of a patient with hepatic cancer using alpha lipoic acid and LDN.  For those who cannot avail of infusions of lipoic acid, the oral supplementation of lipoic acid is effectively absorbed and assimilated conferring restorative liver activity. 

Alpha lipoic acid deserves to be part of the clinician’s toolbox.

References

1. https://www.authorea.com/users/455597/articles/582067-sars-cov-2-spike-protein-in-thepathogenesis-of-prion-like-diseases
2. Perez, JC, Moret-Chalmin,C, Montagnier, L.  Towards the emergence of a new form of the neurodegenerative Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease: Twenty-six cases of CJD declared a few days after a COVID-19 “vaccine” Jab (Version V4).  Zenodo Preprint.  June 14, 2022. Doi: 10.5281/zenodo.6641999.  https://zenodo.org/record/6641999#. Yt2bpMHML1w.
3. McKernan, K, Kyriakopoulos, AM, McCullough, PA.  Differences in vaccine and SARSCoV-2 replication derived mRNA: implictions for cell biology and future disease.  OSF preprint. November 26, 2021.  doi: 10.31219/osf.io/bcsa6.
4. Olsthoorn, RCL.  G-quadruples within prion mRNA:  the missing link in prion diseases?  Nucleic Acids Research.  2014: 42(14), 9327-9333.  Doi: 10.1093/nar/gku559.
5. Pearson, C.  Washington doctor facing probe for criticizing Covid polices wins emergency injunction. The Epoch Times.  May 29, 2023.   https://www.ntd.com/washington-doctor-facingprobe-for-criticizing-covid-policies-wins-emergency-injunction_922091.html