In August 2005 Dr’s Weissman and Kariko published a paper showing a way for foreign mRNA to evade the body’s immune system, which became a “scientific milestone” that was key to the advancement of the mRNA vaccines in 2020″. This codon-optimisation technique allows the mRNA to last longer.
By modifying the RNA code (replacing the nucleoside uradine with pseudouradine [Ψ] a synthetic uradine), a foreign RNA is able to bypass the immune systems first line of defense: the innate immune system. It does this by “turning-off ” the Toll-like receptors (TLR) – the body’s natural warning system! Without this change the “vaccine” RNA would get broken down before the hijacked cells of the body would have a chance to make the foreign protein which a then-immune-antibody response would be wanted.
“Toll-like receptors are important components in defence against infection and downstream effects may also include inhibition of CD8 T cell response. CD8 is a vital part of the immune system’s ability to eradicate infection and cancer.” [2]
In 2016 the effects of Ψ were still largely unknown!
By 2020 it is simply “assumed” that the RNA will be “transient” like natural mRNA, but an “off-switch” is unknown for the modified vaccine mRNA as explained by Geneticist Professor Alexandra Henrion-Caude. [1]
In September 2021 Weissman and Kariko won the 2021 Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award for this 2005 work developing this messenger RNA technology, but missed out on the Nobel Prize.