Scientists have recently produced striking images that reveal how the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is forcing an injected person's own cells to make copies of the real COVID-19 spike, a glycoprotein sticking out from its surface.
Describing the latest development, a Mail Online report said, the said incredible images exhibit how the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is turning cells into 'little factories' that yield spike proteins just like the virus to combat COVID-19.
In a study, scientists have developed spectacular images that show exactly what occurs in the cell of an individual who is injected with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
The spikes on the host's own cells' surface are then recognized as a foreign attacker by the immune system and attacked using antibodies.
The immune system then remembers the spike's shape and the manner it's defeating it so that if one does get infected with the virus, they can then swiftly fight off the virus.
ALSO READ: Moderna Planning to Start Testing Its COVID-19 Vaccine on Children
A nurse prepares an injection with a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine Amidst Criticism
The Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is currently experiencing criticism for alleged side effects, which may cause blood clots in quite a small percentage of people.
However, the vaccine is highly effective at shielding against COVID-19 and has been administered in millions of Britons, with the 100 million doses the Government ordered making up about a quarter of the United Kingdom's stockpile.
Scientists at the University of Oxford worked with virology and glycoproteins expert Professor Max Crispin of the University of Southampton to see how good their COVID-19 vaccine was at replicating COVID-19 spikes.
This analysis approach is also known as cryo-electron microscopy or cryoEM, and thousands of images were captured and combined as part of the research. University of Oxford's Professor Peijun Zhang, co-author of the study, headed the imaging work.
The 'CryoEM' Technique
'CryoEM' the co-author explained, is an enormously powerful technique that allowed the researchers to visualize the dense array of spikes that had been developed and shown on the cells' surface.
Meanwhile, the glycoproteins' analysis themselves showed the vaccine-induced spikes are nearly identical to those of the virus.
In this study entitled, Native-like SARS-CoV-2 Spike Glycoprotein Expressed by ChAdOx1 nCoV-19/AZD1222 Vaccine, and published in the ACS Central Science journal, the authors set out to find out how closely the vaccine-induced spikes looked like those of the contagious virus.
Professor Crispin explained, they were, indeed, pleased to see a huge amount of native-like spikes. This research, the professor added, will hopefully offer to understand to the public, helping them see how the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine works.
Replication of Spike Protein
A lot of people may not realize how their cells are becoming small factories that manufacture viral spikes that then stimulate the immune response needed to combat the disease.
This may also offer reassurance that the vaccine is effective in its function and producing the material needed for presentation to the immune systems.
Essentially, the key to an effective vaccine is guaranteeing the replication of spike protein. It yields as close to that of the actual virus as possible.
Experts said there are many ways to do this; this includes both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna's mRNA method, as well as an inactivated entire virus.
Nevertheless, the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab uses a different method based on a usual common cold infection detected in chimps.
Ape Virus Inactivated to Produce Spike Protein
The researchers had the ape virus inactivated and inserted a piece of genetic code of the COVID-19 virus into it, which is accountable for generating the critical spike protein.
Essentially, the COVID-19 spike protein is how the virus is infecting people. The nefarious protein attaches to the common ACE2 receptor on human cells and hijacks it, utilizing it as a gateway for human cells' infection.
Nonetheless, while the spike protein is how COVID-19 is infecting people, it is also how it is most simply recognized. Once an individual gets injected with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, known as the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine, their cells get infected then, by the harmless altered ape virus.
The person's own cells then read the genetic code of COVID-19 and generate a copy of the spike protein on their surface. How precise these mimic spikes look like those of the virus determines the sturdiness of a person's immunity.
Related report about the efficacy of the currently available COVID-19 vaccines is shown on Diseases Simplified's YouTube video below:
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