A new study by researchers at Salk Institute for Biological Studies shows that the distinctive "spike" proteins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, play a key role in the disease itself.
Published on April 30 in Circulation Research, the also study shows conclusively that COVID-19 is a vascular disease, demonstrating exactly how the SARS-CoV-2 virus damages and attacks the vascular system on a cellular level.
The study provides clear confirmation and a detailed explanation of the mechanism through which the protein damages vascular cells. It helps explain COVID-19's wide variety of seemingly unconnected complications and could open the door for new research into more effective therapies.
Scientists studying other coronaviruses have long suspected that the spike protein contributed to damaging vascular endothelial cells, but this is the first time the process has been documented.
In the new study, the researchers created a "pseudovirus" that was surrounded by SARS-CoV-2 classic crown of spike proteins but did not contain any actual virus. Exposure to this pseudovirus resulted in damage to the lungs and arteries of an animal model – proving that the spike protein alone was enough to cause disease. Tissue samples showed inflammation in endothelial cells lining the pulmonary artery walls.
The researchers then replicated this process in the lab, exposing healthy endothelial cells (which line arteries) to the spike protein. They found that the spike protein damaged the cells by binding ACE2. This binding disrupted ACE2's molecular signaling to mitochondria (organelles that generate energy for cells), causing the mitochondria to become damaged and fragmented.
Previous studies have shown a similar effect when cells were exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but this is the first study to show that the damage occurs when cells are exposed to the spike protein on their own. (Related: Bombshell Salk Institute science paper reveals the covid spike protein is what’s causing deadly blood clots… and it’s in all the covid vaccines (by design).)
"If you remove the replicating capabilities of the virus, it still has a major damaging effect on the vascular cells, simply by virtue of its ability to bind to this ACE2 receptor, the S protein receptor, now famous thanks to COVID," said Uri Manor, co-senior author of the study and an assistant research professor.
Many people think of it as a respiratory disease, but it's really a vascular disease. That could explain why some people have strokes, and why some people have issues in other parts of the body. The commonality between them is that they all have vascular underpinnings."
Pfizer's and Moderna's mRNA COVID-19 vaccines may damage vascular cells
Interestingly, two of the COVID-19 vaccines that received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are making "a harmless piece" of spike protein. They are the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, mRNA vaccines teach our cells how to make a protein – or even just a piece of a protein – that triggers an immune response inside our bodies. That immune response, which produces antibodies, is what protects us from getting infected if the real virus enters our bodies.
"COVID-19 mRNA vaccines give instructions for our cells to make a harmless piece of what is called the 'spike protein,'" the CDC website explained.
A piece published by LewRockwell.com pointed out the irony.
If spike proteins can cause damage in vascular cells and play a key role in COVID-19 itself, "then why are we injecting people with vaccines that teach their cells to make spike proteins?" asked Mike Whitney, the author of the LewRockwell.com piece.
Spike proteins causing the spike in number of breakthrough COVID-19 cases
A breakthrough COVID-19 case is defined as someone who has detectable levels of SARS-CoV-2 at least 14 days after getting fully vaccinated against the disease. As of April 26, the CDC has received 9,245 reports of breakthrough COVID-19 cases. Some 835 of those cases required treatment at hospitals and 132 died.
However, the CDC's latest tally of breakthrough COVID-19 cases only shows 1,359 cases as of May 10, including 1,139 that required hospitalizations and 223 deaths.
It's nearly impossible to know the real figures, but the number of so-called breakthrough cases is certainly rising. (Related: Covid-19 vaccine spike proteins are killing people, not merely the "virus.")
Whitney offered a plausible, albeit unproven, explanation.
"The sharp rise in cases and deaths following mass vaccination is not related to COVID 'the respiratory illness,' but COVID 'the vascular disease,'" Whitney said.
"The vascular component is mainly the result of spike proteins produced by cells in the lining of the blood vessels (endothelium) that are activating platelets that cause blood clots and bleeding. The other main factor is autoimmune reaction in which the killer lymphocytes attack one's own body triggering widespread inflammation (and potential organ failure.)."
In short, Whitney said, the post-injection fatalities are caused by the spike proteins produced by the mRNA vaccines.
COVID-19 vaccine does more hard than good
Cambodia is a perfect example of COVID-19 vaccine doing more harm than good. The country didn't record its first COVID-19 death until March 11 – exactly a year since the start of the pandemic and a few weeks after it started its vaccination program.
In a statement, the country's Ministry of Health said a 50-year-old Cambodian man died from the respiratory virus at Phnom Penh's Khmer Soviet Friendship Hospital.
The deceased, diagnosed with COVID-19 on Feb. 27, was a driver in Sihanoukville for a Chinese national who was also infected. Both cases are linked to an outbreak known in Cambodia as the "Feb. 20 event," for when it was first detected.
Cambodia has 1,163 overall cases when it recorded its first death. As of May 18, the country has 22,889 cases and 156 deaths. More than 21,000 of the cases and all 156 deaths occurred after the country started its vaccination program.
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