Posted on 05/22/2008 12:51:27 AM PDT by neverdem
For decades, scientists have known that they can make vaccines much more efficacious by adding aluminum compounds, but they never knew why. Now, a study reveals how, on a molecular level, these helpers spur the production of antibodies. The finding may help researchers develop better vaccines.
Many vaccines contain adjuvants, nonspecific agents that help jolt the immune system into action. "Alum," a term referring broadly to aluminum hydroxide and several aluminum salts, has this effect, as was accidentally discovered in the 1920s. It has been widely used in human vaccines since the 1950s, and it's still the only adjuvant allowed in the United States. "But we didn't really have a clue about how it worked," says immunologist Harm HogenEsch of Purdue University's School of Veterinary Medicine in West Lafayette, Indiana. The dominant theory held that alum particles bind the antigen--the vaccine's main ingredient--on their surfaces, presenting them more slowly to the immune system and thus ensuring a more thorough response.
But the situation is more complicated than that. Last year, HogenEsch's team and a group led by Fabio Re at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis showed that in macrophages--white blood cells that gobble up pathogens and cellular detritus--alum triggers the production of interleukin 1β and interleukin 18, two key signaling molecules, or cytokines, known to stimulate the production of antibodies. Researchers knew that this duo is often released after the activation of so-called NOD-like receptors. "So then the race was on," says Re, to pinpoint which NOD-like receptor was involved.
That race was won by a team led by Richard Flavell of Yale University. In this week's issue of Nature, Flavell's group reports that aluminum adjuvants trigger a NOD-like receptor called the Nalp3 inflammasome--an intracellular protein structure that plays a key role in immune activation. When the group injected mice lacking Nalp3 with an alum-boosted vaccine, they produced almost no antibodies; but a vaccine with another adjuvant called Freund's resulted in the usual, vigorous immune response. Fe says he will publish the same result in a paper accepted by the Journal of Immunology, which also shows that two other adjuvants--QuilA and chitosan--work in the same way.
The Nalp3 inflammasome is known to be activated by compounds of microbial origin and also by molecules that appear when cells die, such as uric acid. So researchers think that Nalp3 is like a "danger sensor," says Yale immunologist Stephanie Eisenbarth, the first author on the Nature paper. Alum-containing vaccines may simply "hijack" that response.
Knowing how alum works its magic may help researchers design more specific adjuvants that are more effective or have fewer side effects, HogenEsch says. Alum, for instance, is known to kill muscle cells when injected into muscles, as many vaccines are.
More about vaccine adjuvants, including alum There are some comments about Gulf War Syndrome, among others about a variety of all sorts of vaccinations.
This may sound naive, but what happens when your body is trying to fight an existing invasion and you slam it with something like this?
FWIW, I’ve been curious about adjuvants.
It would be poorly understood. Who would want to vaccinate a sick person anyway? That's flying blind.
Thanks; an interesting article and post ;^)
I know for a fact that aluminum is discouraged in cookware and other human contact items. There are even arguments about aluminum powder in deodorants being bad or good.
To find out that they have been adding aluminum in vaccines for decades is outrageous. A quick search of legal cases involving vaccines and you can see that vaccines have been suspect for many different ailments of children. My nephew had a brain seizure when he received his first DPT shot. He has been a vegetable for 19 years now.
How about the medical profession? What you may not realize is that one may be sick but not know he's sick. One may have a small, developing tumor of which he's completely unaware, or be in the beginning stages of an infectious disease that has yet to manifest symptoms. In that case, assailing the immune system with an aggressive vaccine could end up causing dire consequences.
Not a good idea.
That’s why health care professional tell you not to take a vaccine if you are sick, or are running a fever.
Ping... (Thanks, neverdem!)
That's called asymptomatic. So all vaccinations should be halted because we don't have perfect knowledge? I'm the first to acknowledge what I don't know. You can have MRSA in your nose, and tumors that won't kill you if they are otherwise benign. Somebody usually does a cost/benefit analysis. Who will pay for the unnecessary testing?
I had measles when I was ten years old. I went from 60 to 50 pounds in three weeks in early 1962. While I don't agree with all of the latest vaccination recommendations, docs don't make enough money for all of the headaches.
Isn’t aluminum a suspect in Alzheimer’s and other neurological disorders? Sounds a little dangerous to be injecting it directly into our veins.
The anti-vaccine Nazis will now look into this, and find a condition that they can blame Alum on...
Think about what happens with the preservative, Themerosol (mercury), once commonly used in vaccines.
Name-calling from the get go, huh? How mature of you.
It’s particularly ironic that you would call those who stand against heavy-handed government mandated immunization Nazis. Historically, such strong armed government mandates accompany Nazism and fascism, but you turn that around and call those who oppose that type of government action Nazis.
Does it hurt to twist your brain into a contortion like that?
Look at it this way: If immunizations really work on an individual basis, then what does it matter to the immunized if some are not immunized? If you want to provide funds for the poor, at their option, to be immunized, that’s one thing. But to require all children to be immunized smacks more of the Nazism that you seem to decry.
You might be Born Conservative, but if the type of illogic you’ve already demonstrated in this thread is any indication, it didn’t stick.
If the shoe fits, wear it. Please re-read your post; talk about name calling....
I have no problem with the people that LOGICALLY discuss vaccine issues. But there are a few (the so-called Vaccine Nazis) that adamantly refuse to accept scientific evidence that disproves their point. Sure, there are vaccines that were bombs; specifically the Rotavirus vaccine of several years ago. Nothing is perfect; medications, cars, appliances. Since they are all made by humans, there are bound to be problems in at least a small percentage.
The purpose of vaccines ARE to protect the individual and TO ERADICATE DISEASE. I’m not sure if you are aware of this, but smallpox was eradicated through vaccination. Currently, Polio is on the road to becoming eradicated; at this point, it is 99% eradicated. Thus the switch in 2000 from Oral Polio Vaccine to Inactivated Polio Vaccine.
Are you against disease eradication? If not, other than vaccines, how do you propose that they eradicate diseases?
As for mandatory vaccination, there are people who choose to not receive vaccines. If it is an adult and they become infected with an organism that could have been prevented with a vaccine, then they deal with the consequences. However, if it happens to a child, and the parent chose to not get him or her vaccinated, then who is to blame?
The Amish don’t routinely receive vaccines. Maybe that’s why they still get Tetanus, Hib, etc. I’ve seen children become seriously harmed or die from vaccine-preventable disease. There’s no excuse for that....
What name did I call you? Where? Please be specific.
In your reply, you have breezed past the illogic you first demonstrated in calling a group/class of people who oppose mandated vaccinations Nazis, when strong armed mandating by government is a hallmark of Nazism and fascism. IOW, you’re calling the wrong group Nazis.
Until you square that away, the rest of the discussion is on hold.
It's just speculation based on correlation. From the second link in comment# 1:
Aluminum ExposureAluminum is a very abundant element in our environment. It is in many foods we eat, many personal hygiene products we apply to our skin (deodorants, for example), and many medicines we ingest. Thus, all infants are exposed to aluminum in the environment. Breast milk, for example, contains approximately 40 micrograms of aluminum per liter, and infant formulas contain an average of approximately 225 micrograms of aluminum per liter. (5)
I know for a fact that aluminum is discouraged in cookware and other human contact items. There are even arguments about aluminum powder in deodorants being bad or good.
That's evidence of the precautionary principle at work. Another example of the precautionary principle is the hysteria about so called "man made" global warming.
To find out that they have been adding aluminum in vaccines for decades is outrageous. A quick search of legal cases involving vaccines and you can see that vaccines have been suspect for many different ailments of children. My nephew had a brain seizure when he received his first DPT shot. He has been a vegetable for 19 years now.
Don't confuse legal cases with the truth. I'm sorry to read about your nephew. The old DPT vaccine is no longer used, IIRC.
"Woop, woop, woop, aaaah, Moe, Larry, there's wires in these pipes!"
See cmment# 17. A corrrelation has been made only with Alzheimer’s, IIRC. A corrrelation is not causation.
Sounds a little dangerous to be injecting it directly into our veins.
Vaccines are not administered directly into our veins. As luck would have it, I looked up DNA vaccines yesterday for a different thread.
UQ researchers make West Nile vaccine breakthrough
What the Heck is a DNA Vaccine?
Usually, we receive an injection of material underneath our skin (MMR) or into our muscle tissue (influenza vaccine) and tetanus vaccine.
In medical lingo, that's subcutaneously and intramuscularly, respectively. When you're trained to give injections, you're told to check that your not in a blood vessel by withdrawing the piston in the hypodermic, and making sure that you don't see blood before giving the injection.
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