Nailing down the cause of those blood clots |

Y’all remember when I told you about the hypothesis (and testing) that Dr. Andreas Greinacher (University of Griefswald) posed about the blood clots developed from the J&J and Astra-Zeneca vaccines? His data indicated that the clots formed when proteins in the vaccine create reactions in the subject’s blood supply. (They bonded to PF4- platelet factor 4.)

Well, Dr. Ishac Nazy, along with his compatriots [Drs. A Huynh, JG Kelton, DM Arnold, and M Daka] from the Platelet Immunology Lab at McMaster University (Ontario, Canada) , just published findings from their research in Nature. Moreover, their approach affords an opportunity for clinicians to test and treat the unusual clotting.

What’s their finding? An immune-driven mix of coagulation and loss of platelets. An amplification of the findings reported by Dr. Greinacher.

Once the immune complex (formed when the antibodies bond to PF4) is formed, more platelets get involved- and the process cascades. This triggers simultaneous bleeding and clotting- not only in the brain, but in the stomach and other regions of the body.

This study examined five folks (ranging in age from 35 to 72) who developed VITT (Vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia , the blood clotting complex) after a single dose of the Astra-Zeneca inoculation. These results were compared with 10 folks who manifested a similar- but different- blood clotting syndrome- HIT (heparin-induced thrombocytopenia), as well as to 10 normal, healthy subjects.

Using the protocols involved in examining HIT ( alanine scanning mutagenesis), the researchers were able to map where the VITT antibodies clung to PF4. It turns out that only 8 surface amino acids (a miniscule portion of the PF4) were targeted. These are not clinically relevant to HIT, just to VITT. This binding, furthermore, is inhibited by heparin, and the antibodies are far more closely bound with VITT than with HIT.

By the way, this syndrome is vastly attenuated when a second dose of the Astra-Zeneca vaccine is introduced into the body.

So, now we can verify and treat the clotting syndrome.