4 ms·

Is that really possible with dengue? The vaccine exists now, but it might actually make you more sick. I live in a country where dengue is a horrible threat, s

• dhosek 5y ago
  Yes. Dengvaxia is a traditional vaccine which uses weakened virus (and which is why it should only be used on people who've been previously infected). The way mRNA vaccines work is that they tell the cells' ribosomes to manufacture a protein segment from the virus which then triggers the immune response by the cells so that the cells are prepared for the actual arrival of the virus. The article goes into this with more clarity, depth and accuracy than my capsule summary above.
  • idontwantthis 5y ago
    Yes that's how it works in general, but the article lists dengue and doesn't explain why a protein segment would be safer than what we have now.
    • arrosenberg 5y ago
      Current vaccine is an actual virus, just a weakened (attenuated) version. mRNA vaccine causes your body to create the proteins that your immune system can target if it encounters the actual virus. That allows your immune system to train on the targets without introducing an actual virus. The mRNA version doesn't have the ability to infect a cell and use it to reproduce, it ONLY triggers the immune system.
    • TacticalMalice 5y ago
      By eliciting responses against specific parts of a specific protein that minimizes the production of antibodies that bind to, but not neutralize denguevirus. See also https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33194810/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33194810/ .
  • refurb 5y ago
    Yes but the problem with dengue is antibody mediated enhancement. Basically people develop antibodies that make future infections worse by potential infections the infectious proteins. The challenge is not creating a vaccine that stimulates an immune response, the challenge is avoiding a response that makes things worse.
    • jcims 5y ago
      No idea really but maybe there are specific proteins in the virus that are responsible for this behavior that could be omitted from the vaccine while still finding an effective surface feature to work against? > The challenge is not creating a vaccine that stimulates an immune response, the challenge is avoiding a response that makes things worse. Agreed. This is probably always true, there’s just more concrete evidence of this potential outcome with dengue.
    • mise_en_place 5y ago
      If you never had dengue before, wouldn’t you always have the same response due to vaccine mediated original antigenic sin?
      • refurb 5y ago
        It’s been a while since my immunology courses, but I’ll give it a go. Antibody response is not necessarily the same, even in the same person with the same antigen. The immune system basically creates a ton of random antibodies and when they “hit” on the previously unseen antigen, they are amplified. Now once someone has had an immune response and generated memory cells, then yes, very similar antigens (that somewhat bind to the exist ones the body made prior) will tend to “narrow down” the antibodies generated to varieties of the original one (the immune system basically says ‘these old antibodies are close, so let’s create variation off them to optimize the new ones’). Then the other thing to consider is that there are different strains of dengue - so you could get type A, generate a response, but then exposed to type B where your type A antibodies activate the infection mechanism rather than disable it.
• sergiomattei 5y ago
  Dengue is the worst. I got hemorrhagic dengue last year and it knocked me on my ass for good. I’m thankful I had access to good healthcare, otherwise I wouldn’t have had good luck with it. I also had Chikungunya virus once when I was little. Not fun. We need to eradicate these diseases for good.