Vaccine mRNA found in blood after 20 days

SARS-CoV-2 spike mRNA vaccine sequences circulate in blood up to 28 days after COVID-19 vaccination

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/apm.13294

Journal of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology - the APMIS journal

Copenhagen University Hospital

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Denmark used

Pfizer-BioNTech (BTN162b2)

Moderna (mRNA-1273)

Both code for production of the full-length SARS-CoV-2 spike protein

mRNA is encapsulated in lipid nanoparticles

Non replicating

The modified nucleotide sequences allow perfect identification of the vaccine sequences

Patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection

Received mRNA vaccinations

To monitor HCV infection, RNA was extracted from patient plasma

In 10 of 108 HCV patient samples,

full-length or traces of SARS-CoV-2 spike mRNA vaccine sequences were found in blood,

up to 28 days after COVID-19 vaccination.

Professor Hoiby

https://studio.youtube.com/video/hkopHLQjtVQ/edit?o=U

INTRODUCTION

Upon intramuscular injection,

the vaccine mRNA is taken up by muscle and immune cells,

and transported to the regional lymph nodes,

and concentrated in the spleen

The vaccines consist of nonreplicating mRNA,

expected to naturally decompose,

both within the cytosol after translation and at the injection site.

Half-life of mRNA translation,

estimated from hours to a day.

Translation is described to span up to 10 days

The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA)

https://www.idsociety.org/covid-19-real-time-learning-network/vaccines/mrna-vaccines/#overviewandmechanism

Vaccine mRNA is degraded quickly,

by normal intracellular processes,

there is no evidence for long-term detection of mRNA vaccines

Method used in Denmark

Genotyping whole RNA genome sequencing

NCH and SARS-CoV-2 mRNA,

directly from plasma samples

We describe the unexpected finding of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine mRNA sequences

Five consecutive sequencing runs

(May 2021 to the end of June 2021)

Five negative controls and five HCV-positive controls

RESULTS

Both mRNA vaccine sequences have been modified and are only ~70% identical to the spike reference genome on a nucleotide level,

making them distinct from circulating infectious SARS-CoV-2 sequences.

Of the 108 patient samples,

10 samples (9.3%) had partial or up to full sequences of the vaccine mRNA sequence

DISCUSSION

Analysis of mRNA vaccine function has focused on the immune response,

and on protection of vaccinated individuals

The LNPs have been reported to be rapidly cleared by immune cells,

and mRNA rapidly degraded

We expect that vaccine mRNA detected in plasma is contained within LNPs

To our knowledge, our study is the first to detect Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 mRNA vaccine sequences in blood after vaccination,

and therefore provides new knowledge regarding the timeframe in which the mRNA can be detected.

A future prospective study to establish the half-life of mRNA vaccines in vaccine recipients could be performed

(using mRNA vaccine-specific PCRs)