EMCV and SARS Vaccines: Interferon beta 1-alpha (mammalian cells) and Natural Killer Cells

Finding a pedal fallen from my orchid, I asked my Father why. Finding a bird fallen from its nest, I asked my Father why. His reply was, “Not all flowers are meant to fully bloom and not all birds are meant to fly.” Later, I asked him, how is that different from my selectively watering one orchid but not another or putting birdseed in one bird cage but not the other? He replied. “You’ve taken Mother Nature’s natural selection and replaced it with a slight of man’s hand.” Finally, I asked, how is it all different from my purposely plucking the pedal or dropping the egg? Father replied, “Now, my dear child, you are playing God.”

“It is more important to know what sort of person has [a] disease than to know what sort of disease a person has.” – Hippocrates

“Tailored to EMCV and SARS-COV-2, Interferon beta-1a and Natural Killer Cells can be genetically engineered to target, deactivate and/or destroy viral cells.” – Matlock

Advent of Human genome sequencing and the developments of biotechnology as genetic engineering and drug repositioning counter Hippocrates assertion. To be sure, the physician who follows the credo of “First, do no harm,” may agree with Hippocrates. Scientists and Capitalists may differ. What is more, the latter find no importance in person or disease, except to profit from both. 

Public concern has been on the disease COVID-19. Scientists and biotech companies focus on the virus that caused the disease, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-COV-2).

Given the global impact, I find the reported diverse symptomatic and asymptomatic responses warrants consideration that we are confronted with multiple viral players. Viruses are air-borne, sexually transmitted, or ingested. Naturally, the current pandemic’s forms of transmission point to two viruses: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-COV-2) and Encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV).

Origin and source of SARS-COV-2 is noted as China where virus reportedly stems, among other venues, from animals sold in “wet markets.”

“China has become the world’s prime breeding ground for new and exotic strains of influenza and other viruses, including both the deadly SARS virus and avian flu…and the possibility of a pandemic in which tens of millions of people may die.” – Peter Navarro, Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy (OTMP).

From Navarro’s 2007 book, The Coming China Wars, Where They Will Be Fought and How They Can Be Won. (Full Disclosure:  In my role as Faculty Assistant at the Paul Merage School of Business, I assisted Prof. Navarro.)

Origin and source of EMCV can be found in countries where factory farms are prevalent, especially from the Americas and Asia.

In the 2012 Virulence article “The Encephalomyocarditis Virus,” Margot Carocci and Labib Bakkali-Kassimi describe EMCV as “a small non-enveloped single-strand RNA virus, the causative agent of not only myocarditis and encephalitis, but also neurological diseases, reproductive disorders and diabetes in many mammalian species. EMCV pathogenesis appears to be viral strain- and host-specific…” including humans.

In contrast to SARS-COV-2 2020 China origin, we find that “From 1945 to the present, EMCV has been detected in many wild and domestic animals, in many different areas around the world, such as Europe, Canada, South America, Australia, Korea, and China.”

Additionally, contracting SARS-COV-2 has been attributed to viral physical or airborne contact. On the other hand, “EMCV infection occurs by ingestion of EMCV-contaminated food, water and diseased carcasses.” Given worldly reports, developed nations may be as prone to infection as developing countries. Lack of regulation is attributed to the first, whereas lack of resources and deregulation with the latter.

However, unlike SARS-COV-2 whose victims can be asymptomatic or ill from two to six week or succumb to death, “The EMCV is a rapidly lytic virus that does not persist in hosts in most cases. It induces sudden death, myocarditis, encephalitis, nervous disorders and diabetes” (Carocci and Bakkali-Kassimi). Quarantine measures may be short-lived or unwarranted.

Vaccines or Anti-Viral Treatment Drugs?

Designing safe and effective vaccines for either virus has proven to be challenging. I imagine that researchers have considered if not experimented with WI-38 given its past fruitful successes, like polio virus. DNA vaccines are reported to be ineffective and unsafe.

A century after the 1918 Influenza, scientists have addressed yearly outbreaks of Influenza with a variety of vaccines attempting to make them strain specific. Viruses mutate learning to adapt. People, rarely are able or willing to do both. Mutual inclusivity of viruses and autoimmune diseases has become profusely clear.

First proposal: Interferon beta-1a

Genetically engineered mammalian cells are found in some formularies prescribed for auto-immune diseases. Auto-immune diseases are where the body’s own immune system “goes on the attack.” Depending on the disease, it targets specific cells or tissues of the body. Research points to two likely causes: genetics and/or environment.

Consider Multiple Sclerosis (MS), for example. Auto-immune response in people with MS can metaphorically be compared to that of Special Forces vs police officers in the general public.  It seems plausible that if a person’s immune system is on overdrive, then the moment their body comes into contact with a virus, their system responds accordingly.

Tailored to EMCV and SARS-COV-2, Interferon beta-1a and Natural Killer Cells can target, deactivate and/or destroy viral cells. Antibodies derived from a human auto-immune system with MS seems plausible. Vaccine development utilizing recombinant DNA technology using genetically engineered Natural Killer Cells into the human interferon beta gene can be introduced.

Alternatives are available. As noted above, genome sequencing and biotechnological developments have facilitated genetic engineering and drug repositioning. For example, Interferon beta-1a using genetically engineered mammalian cells appear to have replaced natural mammalian cells in some formularies. Another consideration is interferon beta-1b, where instead of mammalian cells production consists of using bacteria, E. coli.

Given the number of fatalities around the world, time constraints and pandemic’s economic consequences, the application for drug repositioning seems an ideal strategy. A myriad of incentives can be presented with the two most palpable: lesser clinical trials and expenditures. Of course, such measures of “cutting corners” come at a cost.

Candidates for clinical trials, physicians, and the public may not be privy to all the vaccine’s compounds or side effects. Drug description may not be complete or comprehensibly disclosed. Explanations typically point to proprietary rights. As a consequence, the public can be at risk of serious adverse reactions, being under or overly medicated.

Negative implications may outweigh the benefits for some. An alternative to Mammalian Cells can be considered – Natural Killer Cells.

Second proposal: Natural Killer Cells

Almost decade ago, Natural Killer Cells (NK) cells were “recognized to express a repertoire of activating and inhibitory receptors that is calibrated to ensure self-tolerance while allowing efficacy against assaults such as viral infection…” What better test of NKs capabilities than that of EMCV and SARS-COV-2?

In the journal Science, authors pose the question in their paper , “Innate or Adaptive Immunity? The Example of Natural Killer Cells.” Answer is clearly not one or the other but both.

Darwin’s idea of the fittest organism manifests itself as those whose existence is credited to both their nature and nurture. The mind’s delight in discovering the significance in brain plasticity instantly communicates to the body as a whole its wonders. In essence, NKs have survived by “blurring the functional borders between these two arms of the immune response.” Humans too are capable of transcending borders.

Sitting at my piano, my fingers naturally gravitate atop the keyboard. Standing anew and asked to play a violin with hands, arms, and shoulder in place, I find myself in motion as my head moves and feet dance along to the tune. Love of Bedřich Smetana and Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich music compositions blurred the “functional borders” between my familiarity with piano and novelty with the violin.

Fluidity can break through blockades as the blood-brain-barrier (BBB). Imagine the implications to neurologic diseases of the BBB permeation? Consider that “recent studies have unveiled that NK cells can also mount a form of antigen-specific immunologic memory.” Genetic reengineering is conducive to programed memory. Auto-immune systems can be subjected to clinical trials formulated with a form of NK cells.

“Survival of the Fittest” or Elitist?

“…limiting the spread of medical knowledge to only those who have paid for it can lead to disasters (as when the Chamberlen family’s preservation of their “trade secret” of obstetrical forceps for over a century contributed to countless needless deaths in childbirth)…” – Hagop Kantarjian, MD, and David P. Steensma, MD  

In my research, visiting or speaking with various scientists and physicians from Japan, Israel, India, China, Russia, Germany, and U.S, I’ve learned of the art of dealing with drug discovery, development, and repositioning. I’ve witnessed the interplay between humans, immunology, epidemiology, and formulary experimentation.

Working with government, academic research institutions, medical device companies, and Intellectual Property lawyers, I’ve had a front row seat to technology transfer. In countries where government health systems are state run, the interface between both is mutually inclusive and beneficial in stark contrast to those where exclusivity lies with capital avarice.

Yet, capitalist power thrives on U.S. companies being given the “greenlight” and funding for biotech and formularies by their government. Consider:

A formulary taken for MS is described as an Interferon beta-1a using “genetically engineered Chinese Hamster Ovary cells” while another, interferon beta-1b is produced in modified E. coli.” MS formularies are priced between $5,000 – 7,500 on average for a month’s supply.

It seems plausible to develop a vaccine where once injected, the body sees the genetically engineered virus as a makeshift bait and/or bacteria. Let’s say Pharma X comes up with an inexpensive vaccine ($50.00) for SARS-COV-2 (inoculation or yearly therapy).

It seems probable that the same inexpensive SARS-COV-2vaccine can be repositioned for the standard auto-immune disease MS formulary ($5,000 – 7,500 on average for a month’s supply).

Yes, Biotech and Pharma know the importance of person and disease. Their business depends on both. Quite simply, the drug that ills or kills can be repositioned for another’s illness.  

Repositioning Future “Peace” Missions

In my return from my recent visit to the U.S., I stopped by to take a stroll along the Charles Bridge in Prague, Czechia, Má vlast!

As I gazed at the water, I could almost hear words of the past, Vltava, the Modau. My concern turned to the present viral crisis and to one that has been building for decades, future water wars.

Americas “sweetheart deals” as those so called “peace deals” between countries in the Middle East, have come to fruition. Zeroing in, we discover “peace” has many values created around space and time.

If you’re interested in reading of a first-hand account of these American “sweetheart deals,” visit matlockreport.com