A reader sent me a question about the statements made by Biontech on their website:
Is it true that the mRNA would occur naturally? RNA occurs naturally, but mRNA is genetically modified, isn’t it?
Here is a screen shot of the relevant statements from Biontech:
Those: biontech.com/de/de/home/research-and-innovation/drug-classes/mrna.html
Answer:
The BionTech page you indicated is striking at first glance for a number of half-truths, such as:
The first point claims that mRNA is a naturally occurring molecule with well-established properties. First of all, that’s not wrong. Because the naturally occurring mRNA is in fact relatively well researched.
The trick here might be to allow this statement to also apply to the mRNA that is in the lipid nanoparticles of the new “corona vaccinations”. Therefore, the term “mRNA” is misleading. Rather, one should rather speak of “modRNA” here. Because the RNA used here is not natural RNA (= does not occur in nature) but an artificially modified RNA.
I have described the modifications that were made here in this post: Do the gene injections specifically switch off the immune system?
Another claim from BioNTech is that their modRNA is short-lived, but its activity and half-life are adjustable.
The half-life of natural mRNA is short. For example an investigation[i] from 2009 came to 7.1 hours. Fewer than 100 genes produced mRNA with a half-life of less than 1 hour. The authors established the rule of thumb that genes with regulatory functions (transcription factors) produce mRNA with a short half-life. Genes that influence metabolism and structural functions (extracellular matrix, cytoskeleton) produce mRNA with a longer half-life.
A Swiss work[ii] from 2018 even speaks of an average mRNA half-life of less than 5 minutes.
The half-life[iii] The modRNA in the “corona vaccinations” is so high that this RNA can still be detected in significant concentrations in the lymph nodes 60 days after the injection. The production of spike proteins can be detected for a correspondingly long time. The recipients of the gene injections have to go through a daily “continuous vaccination program” with spike proteins producing body cells for the next eight weeks after receiving the injection, with an uncertain prospect of its end. In any case, I don’t know of any studies or evidence that address the question of how long the cells are now producing these spikes.
To me, BioNTech’s argument about “short-lived with an adjustable activity and half-life” is a “rhetorical trick” that emphasizes the short-lived nature of the natural mRNA and suggests that this is also the case with the artificial modRNA in principle. Only the adjustment of this half-life, which is supposed to be an advantage here, is a hidden hint to the unnaturally long half-lives of the modRNA.
It is also interesting to note or admit that gene therapy can sometimes result in RNA being integrated into the genome. So far, this has been categorically denied: COVID Vaccination – So yes! Incorporating mRNA into your own DNA?
By the way: If you are interested in such information, then you should definitely request my free practice newsletter “Independent. Naturally. clear edge.” to:
Sources:
[i] Database for mRNA Half-Life of 19 977 Genes Obtained by DNA Microarray Analysis of Pluripotent and Differentiating Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells | DNA Research | Oxford Academic
[ii] Non-invasive measurement of mRNA decay reveals translation initiation as the major determinant of mRNA stability | eLife
[iii] Immune imprinting, breadth of variant recognition, and germinal center response in human SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination: Cell