A rare COVID-19 vaccine complication associated with a circulating spike protein in the blood

A recent study conducted by a team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts found that young adults and adolescents with rare cases of myocarditis after vaccination with an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine had less virus in their bloodstream. We found that the levels of protein spikes were elevated. general Hospital. However, they also conclude that the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination still greatly outweigh the risks.

Myocarditis occurs when myocardial tissue becomes inflamed, often causing chest pain and fatigue. It is observed in many conditions, including viral infections and inflammatory diseases. In very rare cases (about 1 or his 2 in 100,000), myocarditis can result from vaccination with his COVID-19 mRNA vaccine developed by Pfizer and Moderna.

It remains unclear why mRNA vaccines occasionally induce myocarditis, and unraveling the mystery may lead to more effective treatments for these rare cases.

In a study published in the journal, Circulationthe research team recruited 61 adolescents and young adults, 15 who developed myocarditis after receiving Pfizer BNT162b2 or Moderna mRNA-1273 COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, and 45 who were healthy and vaccinated. They were age-matched volunteers. We profiled the immune system, including measuring blood levels of CoV-2 antigen.

The research team found that patients with myocarditis were unable to distinguish between antibody and T-cell responses to controls, including antibody production, autoantibodies, and T-cell profiles. However, they found elevated levels of the spike protein in the blood of myocarditis patients, which appeared to evade the immune response. In addition, patients with myocarditis had higher blood levels of cytokines, an indicator of congenital inflammation, and troponin, a sign of damage to the heart. .

“The risk of developing serious illness from acute infection greatly exceeds this rare risk.” said Lael Yonker, an expert in pediatric pulmonary medicine at the Mass General for Children and lead author of the study, said: “While this finding helps us better understand this potential complication, it does not change the risk-benefit ratio of receiving the COVID vaccine. Myocarditis in Children Infected with SARS-CoV-2″ and other heart-related complications are much higher than the risk of myocarditis after vaccination.”

The authors also noted that it remains unclear whether the circulating spike protein was responsible for the myocarditis observed in these patients. I have smallpox, etc.therefore, the spike protein may have been a biomarker of the underlying immune dysregulation leading to symptoms.

“This was a valuable sample set because these cases are so rare,” said co-corresponding author David Walt, a professor in the Brigham Department of Pathology. “We studied them in depth, which led to some interesting findings that may guide therapeutic strategies to reverse post-vaccination myocarditis.”

Before Recommended cause Post-vaccination myocarditis involves an aberrant immune response to the vaccine, the production of autoantibodies, or potential spike proteins that mimic self-antigens, causing the immune system to attack heart tissue. The factor is Myocarditis affects young men More than young women, which can be explained by hormonal mechanisms. Nevertheless, Jonker and Walt et al. found circulating spike protein in female patients as much as in male patients.

The authors acknowledged the limitations of their study, with a sample size of only 16 in the myocarditis group.

In any case, the study continues to highlight that vaccination against COVID-19 poses far less risk than infection with the virus, including among adolescents and young adults.

“In most cases, post-vaccination myocarditis is mild and self-resolving,” said Yonker. “But new insights into its causes may further help improve patient symptoms or prevent the development of this complication.”