Immunology I: The "Science"

Allows for (r)evolutionary advances. Requires circumspection when messed with.

Clearly, the science of immunology is eminently useful, has come a long way and revealed a lot about our immune system, how it works and can be helpful in keeping us alive and healthy.

As I read through these books, though, it becomes readily apparent why vaccine development - injecting foreign material into a million year old biological system - should (and used to) take a long, long time.

Unsettled Science

The following snippet on page 304 of REI¹ made a stunning departure from the (for example) climate “science” narrative (emphasis mine):

Given the complex interactions of peptides behaving as agonists, partial agonists, and antagonists it is likely that the last word has not yet been spoken (not that it ever is in science!).

Roitt’s Essential Immunology goes into a lot of detail about the immune system and how it works. It’s refreshing to see “we think it works like this” type discussion here and there. This single parenthesised snippet, however, appears to be science field agnostic.

---

This thought is echoed in G101² on page 32, where we read (emphasis mine):

In 1957, Francis Crick, already famous for his role in discovering the structure of DNA, gave a lecture in which he explained a hypothesis he had: that “the main function of the genetic material is to control…the synthesis of proteins.” He argued that the information in a nucleic acid like RNA can be used to make proteins, but not vice versa, and called this idea the “Central Dogma” of molecular biology.

The only problem is that it’s not really a dogma. Dogma is a religious term for a set of principles that some authority declares to be true and everybody must believe it. That’s not how science works! An idea only sticks around for as long as it is backed up by evidence. Crick later admitted that he misunderstood the word—but it was too late. The name stuck.

Unknown, not known, unclear

In HTISW³ (2019), a search for, “unknown”, “not known”, “unclear” turns up the following snippets (a sample):

How a baby B cell “decides” what to be when it “grows up” – a short-lived plasma B cell, a long-lived plasma cell, or a central memory B cell is unknown.

an important area about which there are probably more unknowns than knowns: intestinal immunity

So how does the immune system decide whether Th cells should become iTregs, and restrain the immune response, or become Th17 cells, and “let the dogs out”? The complete answer is unknown.

IgD antibodies represent only a tiny fraction of the circulating antibodies in a human, and it is unclear whether they actually perform any significant function in the immune defense.

Once activated, nTreg cells are able to suppress the activation of potentially self-reactive T cells. Exactly how they accomplish this is still unclear.

the rules that govern cross-presentation have not been clearly defined, and it is not known whether crosspresentation by class I MHC molecules of antigen taken
up from outside an APC is an important feature of the human immune system.

There is a lot about γδ T cells which is still mysterious. For example, it is not known where these cells grow up.

In most cases, it also is not known exactly what the receptors on γδ T cells recognize

exactly how these co-receptor molecules help “instruct” T cells to function as helpers or killers is not known.

---

First vaccine administration vs the thymus

REI⁴:

In 1796, Edward Jenner carried out the remarkable clinical experiment that marks the beginning of immunology as a systematic subject.

He administered the first ever vaccine - for smallpox.

BI⁵:

A third observation that was to firmly connect the thymus to cellular immunity was made in Glasgow, Scotland in 1966.

They finally worked out that t cells developed in the thymus, 170 years later. If we go back a mere 56 years, (2021 —> 1965) immunologists were still unsure where t cells were developed, and what the thymus’ function was. Immunology may be an old science, but some of the fundamental basics were only discovered in the past 60 years or so.

---

This image detailing the vaccine development process is from the world economic forum website. The web page is dated June 6, 2020.

---

Here’s one more kicker, from BI⁶ (emphasis mine):

In fact, we still lack a lot of information. The lifespan and degree of turnover [periodic clonal expansion] of memory T cells is unknown, as is the question as to whether such cells need periodically to see antigen to keep them alive [the answer was “yes” from 1980 to 1995, but lately the “no” school is taking over [shown by parking memory T cells in MHC deficient recipients for long periods of time then coming back and showing the cells still respond like memory cells]]. Turnover may maintain the memory T cell pool, but it also may result in some loss of cells, and repeated stimulation could theorectically [sic] deplete the memory T cell pool.

Repeated, potentially t cell simulating (not tested in the trial?) booster shots, anyone? Every 4 months perhaps?

(Cherry picked) from: Chronic Antigen Stimulation Alone Is Sufficient to Drive CD8+ T Cell Exhaustion

The failure of CD8+ T cells to respond to chronic infection has been termed “exhaustion” and describes the condition in which CD8+ T cells exhibit reduced differentiation, proliferation, and effector function.

Is repeatedly boosting people every 4 months (or every 3 months) the same as being chronically infected?

---

1. We are still learning how the immune system works, and there is a lot that is unclear, or even unknown.

2. Sorry talking heads of (climate, mask, lock down, etc) science expertise: science is not settled.

3. We are messing with a system we still do not fully understand, using a vaccine tech that pretty much nobody knows the short-term full effects of, let along the long-term effects.

Launching this new mRNA vaccine technology so quickly and with such limited (not to mention dodgy af) trials / testing was the wrong thing to do. The powers that be have no idea about the immune system. They are not embracing or following the science. What they are doing would be described as manic obsessive vaccine coercion disorder.

Disclaimer

1. Key:

BI: Basic Immunology

HTISW: How the Immune System Works

REI: Roitt’s Essential Immunity

G101: Genetics 101

GFD: God fuc- no wait, Genetics for Dummies

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.