Thread by @ichaydon

There's an astonishing link between COVID-19 and HIV — at least when it comes to vaccines. I've not seen anyone report on this in the press, so follow me here.

This is an 18 year journey through science.

THREAD (1/10)

Let's do this in reverse order: @Moderna was the 1st company to put a COVID-19 vaccine candidate into people. (I’m one of those people). Their vaccine is based on the coronavirus Spike protein.

You've seen this iconic image — those red bumps are Spike proteins.

2/10

Spike protein is an obvious choice for a COVID vaccine. If our immune system gets to see those spikes, there's a good chance it'll create antibodies to shut them down. Bye bye virus.

But there's a major problem.

3/10

Spike proteins are literally spring-loaded nanoweapons. They start off all compact but can FIRE like a bear trap. This is how coronaviruses latch onto human cells. This is how infection starts.

4/10

Ok here's the problem: These Spikes can fire all on their own. They aren't stable. They go from closed to open quite easily.

This means that if you inject someone w Spike, there's a good chance they will make antibodies to the ALREADY FIRED bear trap. That’d be worthless

5/10

Enter HIV.

Scientists faced this exact problem in the early 2000s when researching HIV proteins. That virus also has spikes, and researchers wanted to use them as a vaccine. But even when isolated, the spikes kept firing, yielding worthless antibodies.

6/10

In 2002, the Moore lab @Cornell solved this problem. They found a way to lock open HIV spikes so antibodies could focus on stopping the dangerous form of the protein. This led to new HIV vaccines that are in testing today.

7/10

In 2013, another team coopted this HIV trick and used it to lock open Spike proteins from a different virus (RSV).

They did it again in 2017 when trying to create a MERS vaccine. That virus is a cousin of COVID-19.

8/10

AND in 2020, the team showed that the same trick worked on the Spikes from the novel coronavirus.

If not for this line of research – starting with the HIV work from 2002 – Moderna would not have a COVID-19 Spike vaccine worth testing.

9/10

So let's give it up for science. For collaboration. For those who were prepared, because they actually did their homework. And for the funders.

@KizzyPhD was on the MERS/COVID team. The @McLellan_Lab was integral. As was @NIH, and many others.

10/10

Ugh. It’s @moderna_tx (the company) not @.moderna (the person)