Researchers from Pritzker Molecular Engineering, under the guidance of Prof. Jeffrey Hubbell, demonstrated that their compound can eliminate the autoimmune response linked to multiple sclerosis. Researchers at the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) have developed
If we assume for a moment that it works as advertised - what is it that makes this a vaccine? To me it sounds like a cure or treatment.
It is not a cure for the reasons others in this thread have stated. It doesn’t repair damage already done, it only prevents the disease from advancing. That’s still a huge deal, though.
But when it comes to type 1 diabetes the cause is the body destroying beta cells in the pancreas and everything else is a symptom of that. If you can make the body “forget” killing beta cells (like the article states the anti-vaccine would, or rather teach the body to not kill) then it would make sense for the body to recover and repair the damage done.
Wouldn’t it then be a cure?
Yes, from what I know about type 1 diabetes is that once your immune system stops destroying your beta-cells, they regenerate. So that would solve your type 1 diabetes. And you’d have as big a chance of type 2 diabetes as the next guy. And isn’t that the dream 🙂 So 🤞
@be_excellent_to_each_other @m3t00
Vaccines have evolved from prevention/mitigation to now include treatment, and ideally cures.
https://www.pennmedicine.org/mrna
So skimming through the link, it’s a vaccine because it’s still triggering a specific body response to fight the illness as opposed to directly attacking the illness itself? Is that a reasonable layman’s summary of why it’s called a vaccine?
(Old x’er here, Vaccines have been preventative for as long as I’ve ever known, that’s the reason for the question.)
@be_excellent_to_each_other @m3t00
I an X that had the exact same thoughts lol. I’m no expert, but old vaccines often contained some of the virus live or deactivated, whereas mRNA are created and not of biological origin. So more about the front end than the back end.
The amount of science research funded over COVID that allowed for the rapid development and testing of mRNA technology has created a boon for centuries to come. COVID may well be responsible for the death of autoimmune diseases.