Trends Mol Med . Adverse effects of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines: the spike hypothesis

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Trends Mol Med


. 2022 Apr 21;S1471-4914(22)00103-4.
doi: 10.1016/j.molmed.2022.04.007. Online ahead of print.
Adverse effects of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines: the spike hypothesis


Ioannis P Trougakos ¹ , Evangelos Terpos ² , Harry Alexopoulos ³ , Marianna Politou ⁴ , Dimitrios Paraskevis ⁵ , Andreas Scorilas ⁶ , Efstathios Kastritis ² , Evangelos Andreakos ⁷ , Meletios A Dimopoulos ²



Affiliations

• PMID: 35537987
• DOI: 10.1016/j.molmed.2022.04.007

Abstract

Vaccination is a major tool for mitigating the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and mRNA vaccines are central to the ongoing vaccination campaign that is undoubtedly saving thousands of lives. However, adverse effects (AEs) following vaccination have been noted which may relate to a proinflammatory action of the lipid nanoparticles used or the delivered mRNA (i.e., the vaccine formulation), as well as to the unique nature, expression pattern, binding profile, and proinflammatory effects of the produced antigens - spike (S) protein and/or its subunits/peptide fragments - in human tissues or organs. Current knowledge on this topic originates mostly from cell-based assays or from model organisms; further research on the cellular/molecular basis of the mRNA vaccine-induced AEs will therefore promise safety, maintain trust, and direct health policies.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; adverse effects; lipid nanoparticle; mRNA vaccine; spike protein.