Adjuvant
Cumulative inactivated vaccine exposure and allergy development among children: a birth cohort from Japan
SYNOPSIS
The prevalence of asthma, wheeze and eczema among children at 12 months of age might be related to the amount of inactivated vaccine exposure before 6 months of age.
CITATION
Yamamoto-Hanada et al. Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine (2020) 25:27
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12199-020-00864-7
SUMMARY
Adjuvants used in inactivated vaccines often upregulate type 2 immunity, which is dominant in allergic diseases. The authors hypothesised that cumulative adjuvant exposure in infancy may influence the development of allergies later in life by changing the balance of type 1/type 2 immunity and examined the relationship between immunisation with different vaccine types and later allergic disease development. They found that physician-diagnosed asthma was associated with receiving three or four to five different inactivated vaccines, compared with children who received only one inactivated vaccine. Similar results were found for two questionnaire-based symptoms, i.e. wheeze (three vaccines vs. a single vaccine) and
eczema (four or five vaccines vs. a single vaccine).
Myalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome following immunization: macrophagic myofasciitis and animal studies support linkage to aluminum adjuvant persistency and diffusion in the immune system
SYNOPSIS
We present epidemiological, clinical and experimental evidence that Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) constitutes a major type of adverse effect of vaccines, especially those containing poorly degradable particulate aluminum adjuvants.
CITATION
Romain K. Gherardi, Guillemette Crepeaux, Francois-Jerome Authier; Autoimmunity Reviews, Volume 18, Issue 7, July 2019, Pages 691-705.
SUMMARY
Evidence showed Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) constitutes a major type of adverse effect of vaccines, especially those containing poorly degradable particulate aluminum adjuvants. It was supported by an epidemiological study comparing vaccinated vs unvaccinated militaries and revealed affected patients suffer from cognitive dysfunction affecting attention, memory and inter-hemispheric connexions, well correlated to brain perfusion defects and associated with a stereotyped and distinctive pattern of cerebral glucose hypometabolism. Instead of being rapidly solubilized in the extracellular space, injected aluminum particles are quickly captured by immune cells and transported to distant organs and the brain where they elicit an inflammatory response and exert selective low dose long-term neurotoxicity.
Reconsideration of the immunotherapeutic pediatric safe dose levels of aluminum
SYNOPSIS
The levels of aluminum present in individual vaccines and in the modern vaccine schedule as a whole are problematically high.
Citation
Lyons-Weiler J, Ricketson R. Reconsideration of the immunotherapeutic pediatric safe dose levels of aluminum. Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology. 2018;48:67-73.
Summary
The authors show that current levels of aluminum in vaccines derive from “outdated information, unwarranted assumptions and errors.” Whereas aluminum dosing in vaccines should be expressed in terms of micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) references aluminum amounts in terms of micrograms per dose. As a result, aluminum amounts do not appropriately adjust for toxicological differences between adults and children, males and females or normal-birthweight versus low-birthweight infants. The FDA also ignores dose-related toxicity and body burden despite routine administration of multiple aluminum-containing vaccines at a single health care visit. The levels of aluminum currently present in individual vaccines and in the modern vaccine schedule as a whole are “problematically high.”
Feline vaccine-associated sarcomagenesis: is there an inflammation-independent role for aluminium?
SYNOPSIS
Aluminum adjuvants in vaccines can initiate and promote feline cancers.
Citation
AbdelMageed MA, Foltopoulou P, McNeil EA. Feline vaccine-associated sarcomagenesis: is there an inflammation-independent role for aluminium? Veterinary and Comparative Oncology. 2018;16(1):E130-E143.
Summary
This study, which examined whether aluminum adjuvants in vaccines can cause tumors in cats, found that the aluminum hydroxide adjuvant causes DNA damage and mutation. The study followed up on the observation that up to 10 of every 10,000 vaccinated cats develop an aggressive and invasive feline cancer at the site of vaccine administration within one to three years post-vaccination. The study confirmed that aluminum is highly persistent, continues to damage cells “for significant periods of time after initial exposure” and may “directly facilitate carcinogenesis” through the initiation and promotion of tumors.
Autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants and Sjogren’s syndrome
SYNOPSIS
Israeli and Italian scientists warn that vaccine adjuvants (aluminum) are causing a wide-range of autoimmune conditions, including Sjogren’s Syndrome.
CITATION
Colafrancesco S, Perricone C, Shoenfeld Y. The Israel Medical Association Journal. 2016;18(3-4):150-153.
SUMMARY
Considerable evidence raises the possibility of vaccine-triggered autoimmunity. For example, case reports suggest that both vaccines and silicone may trigger the development of Sjogren’s syndrome (a chronic systemic autoimmune inflammatory condition involving the exocrine glands). Aluminum, one of the principal adjuvants used in vaccine formulation, may be responsible for the development of autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants (ASIA). Aluminum salts seem to induce the activation of dendritic cells and complement components and increase the level of chemokine secretion at the injection site. Evidence also suggests that several vaccines, including BCG (tuberculosis), hepatitis A and/or B and human papillomavirus (HPV), should be avoided or considered only in selected individuals.
Vaccines, adjuvants and autoimmunity
SYNOPSIS
Evidence points to vaccine-induced autoimmunity and adjuvant-induced autoimmunity in experimental models and human patients.
CITATION
Guimarães LE, Baker B, Perricone C, Shoenfeld Y. Pharmacological Research. 2015;100:190-209.
SUMMARY
This review of the literature assembles evidence of vaccine-induced autoimmunity and adjuvant-induced autoimmunity in both experimental models as well as human patients. Adjuvants and infectious agents may exert their immune-enhancing effects through various functional activities, encompassed by the adjuvant effect. These mechanisms are shared by different conditions triggered by adjuvants leading to the autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants (ASIA).
Predicting post-vaccination autoimmunity: who might be at risk?
SYNOPSIS
Some individuals are at risk of developing autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants (ASIA).
CITATION
Soriano A, Nesher G, Shoenfeld Y. Pharmacological Research, 2015;92:18-22. Epub 2014 Sep 30.
SUMMARY
It has been postulated that autoimmunity could be triggered or enhanced by a vaccine’s immunogen contents, as well as by adjuvants, which are used to increase the immune reaction to the immunogen. Fortunately, vaccination-related ASIA (autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants) is uncommon. Yet, by defining individuals at risk, it may be possible to further limit the number of individuals developing post-vaccination ASIA.
Evidence that food proteins in vaccines cause the development of food allergies and its implications for vaccine policy
SYNOPSIS
Vaccines are implicated in the epidemic of childhood food allergies.
CITATION
Arumugham V. Journal of Developing Drugs. 2015;4:137.
SUMMARY
Studies, including by the Institute of Medicine, have demonstrated that food proteins contained in vaccines/injections can induce food allergy. Allergen quantities in vaccines are unregulated. C-section births bias a newborn’s immune system toward IgE synthesis due to the development of a suboptimal gut microbiome. Vaccines contain adjuvants such as aluminum compounds and pertussis toxin that also bias toward IgE synthesis. Over several decades, C-section birth rates have gone up 50%, and the vaccine schedule has increased the number of vaccine shots, with up to five vaccines administered simultaneously. “Given these conditions, the predictable and observed outcome is a food allergy epidemic.”
A comparison of temporal trends in United States autism prevalence to trends in suspected environmental factors
SYNOPSIS
UC-Boulder professor says the autism epidemic is real and therefore must be the product of an environmental factor.
CITATION
Nevison CD. Environmental Health. 2014;13:73.
SUMMARY
“Diagnosed autism prevalence has risen dramatically in the U.S over the last several decades and continued to trend upward as of birth year 2005. The increase is mainly real and has occurred mostly since the late 1980s. In contrast, children’s exposure to most of the top ten toxic compounds has remained flat or decreased over this same time frame. Environmental factors with increasing temporal trends can help suggest hypotheses for drivers of autism that merit further investigation.”
Autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants (ASIA) 2013: Unveiling the pathogenic, clinical and diagnostic aspects
SYNOPSIS
Israeli and Italian researchers demonstrate that exposure to aluminum in vaccines can lead to autoimmune and brain dysfunction.
CITATION
Perricone C, Colafrancesco S, Mazor RD, Soriano A, Agmon-Levin N, Shoenfeld Y. Journal of Autoimmunity. 2013;47:1-16.
SUMMARY
Environmental factors play a critical role in the induction of autoimmunity, with an interplay between genetic susceptibility and environment. Several neurologic demyelinating diseases have been reported following vaccination, notably Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) (an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system). A number of the most common vaccines appear to have some involvement with autoimmunity.
Human Papilloma Virus Vaccine and Primary Ovarian Failure: Another Facet of the Autoimmune/Inflammatory Syndrome Induced by Adjuvants
SYNOPSIS
Israeli, Italian, and Canadian researchers tie HPV vaccine to primary ovarian failure.
CITATION
Selena Colafrancesco, Carlo Perricone, Lucija Tomljenovic, Yehuda Shoenfeld. American Journal of Reproductive Immunology, 2013.
SUMMARY
“We documented here the evidence of the potential of the HPV vaccine to trigger a life-disabling autoimmune condition. The increasing number of similar reports of post HPV vaccine-linked autoimmunity and the uncertainty of long-term clinical benefits of HPV vaccination are a matter of public health that warrants further rigorous inquiry.”
Aluminum in the central nervous system (CNS): toxicity in humans and animals, vaccine adjuvants, and autoimmunity
SYNOPSIS
Canadian researchers: aluminum in vaccines can cause both autoimmunity and neurological damage.
CITATION
Shaw C, Tomljenovic L. Immunologic Research. 2013;56:304–316.
SUMMARY
“In young children, a highly significant correlation exists between the number of pediatric aluminum-adjuvanted vaccines administered and the rate of autism spectrum disorders. Many of the features of aluminum-induced neurotoxicity may arise, in part, from autoimmune reactions, as part of the ASIA syndrome. Aluminum is added to vaccines to help the vaccine work more effectively, but unlike dietary aluminum which will usually clear rapidly from the body, aluminum used in vaccines and injected is designed to provide a long-lasting cellular exposure. Thus, the problem with vaccine-derived aluminum is really twofold: It drives the immune response even in the absence of a viral or bacterial threat and it can make its way into the central nervous system. It is not really a matter of much debate that aluminum in various forms can be neurotoxic.”
Human exposure to aluminium
SYNOPSIS
British scientists sounds the alarm on aluminum toxicity and question lack of research on aluminum used in vaccines.
CITATION
Christopher Exley. Environmental Science Processes & Impacts, The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2013, 15, 1807.
SUMMARY
“The immunopotency of aluminium has been known for at least 100 years and still today forms the basis for the use of aluminium salts as adjuvants in vaccinations and allergy therapies. What is then surprising is the uncertainty regarding their mechanism of action and burgeoning evidence of their toxicity in potentially susceptible individuals.”
Autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants (Shoenfeld’s syndrome): clinical and immunological spectrum
SYNOPSIS
Scientists from Mexico and Israel explain adjuvants (aluminum) used in vaccines can induce autoimmunity.
CITATION
Vera-Lastra O, Medina G, Del-Pilar Cruz Dominguez M, Jara LJ. Expert Reviews-Clinical Immunology. 2013;9(4):361-373.
SUMMARY
Activation of the immune system by adjuvants could trigger manifestations of autoimmunity or autoimmune disease. Autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants (ASIA) includes postvaccination phenomena, macrophagic myofasciitis (MMF), Gulf War syndrome and siliconosis. Various adjuvants used in vaccines enhance a specific immune response against antigens and may produce autoimmunity and autoimmune disease in experimental models and humans. “The clinical and laboratory data support an association between adjuvants and autoimmune diseases.”
Mechanisms of aluminum adjuvant toxicity and autoimmunity in pediatric populations
SYNOPSIS
Canadian researchers review literature on autoimmunity and neurological risks from vaccine adjuvant aluminum, express doubts regarding safety testing.
CITATION
L Tomljenovic, CA Shaw. Lupus. 2012;21:223–230.
SUMMARY
“Immune challenges during early development, including those vaccine-induced, can lead to permanent detrimental alterations of the brain and immune function. Experimental evidence also shows that simultaneous administration of as little as two to three immune adjuvants can overcome genetic resistance to autoimmunity. In spite of the widespread agreement that vaccines are largely safe and serious adverse complications are extremely rare, a close scrutiny of the scientific literature does not support this view. For example, to date, the clinical trials that could adequately address vaccine safety issues have not been conducted (i.e., comparing health outcomes in vaccinated versus non-vaccinated children). Infants and young children should not be viewed as ‘small adults.’ Their unique physiology makes them much more vulnerable to noxious environmental insults in comparison with the adult population. In spite of this, children are routinely exposed to much higher levels of Al vaccine adjuvants than adults, even though adequate safety data on these compounds are lacking. That Al vaccine adjuvants can induce significant autoimmune conditions in humans can hardly be disputed, although still debatable is how common such side effects are. However, the existing data (or lack thereof) raise questions on whether the current vaccines aimed at pediatric populations can be accepted as having adequate safety profiles. Because infants and children represent those who may be most at risk for complications following vaccination, a more rigorous evaluation of potential vaccine-related adverse health impacts in pediatric populations than what has been provided to date is urgently needed.”
Do aluminum vaccine adjuvants contribute to the rising prevalence of autism?
SYNOPSIS
Canadian researchers report vaccine aluminum and autism prevalence related.
CITATION
Tomljenovic L, Shaw CA. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry. 2011;105:1489-1499.
SUMMARY
“Dysfunctional immunity and impaired brain function are core deficits in ASD. Aluminum (Al), the most commonly used vaccine adjuvant, is a demonstrated neurotoxin and a strong immune stimulator. Hence, adjuvant Al has the potential to induce neuroimmune disorders. The application of the Hill’s criteria to these data indicates that the correlation between Al in vaccines and ASD may be causal. Because children represent a fraction of the population most at risk for complications following exposure to Al, a more rigorous evaluation of Al adjuvant safety seems warranted. By satisfying eight of the Hill’s criteria for establishing causality applicable to our study, we show that Al-adjuvanted vaccines may be a significant etiological factor in the rising prevalence of ASD in the Western world. We also show that children from countries with the highest ASD prevalence appear to have a much higher exposure to Al from vaccines, particularly at 2 months of age.”
The immunobiology of aluminium adjuvants: how do they really work?
SYNOPSIS
British and Swedish scientists raise concerns about limited understanding of vaccine aluminum’s impact on the human body, raise risk of autoimmune response.
CITATION
Exley C, Siesjo P, Eriksson H. Trends in Immunology. 2010;31:103-109.
SUMMARY
“Boys vaccinated as neonates had threefold greater odds for autism diagnosis compared to boys never vaccinated or vaccinated after the first month of life. Findings suggest that U.S. male neonates vaccinated with the hepatitis B vac- cine prior to 1999 (from vaccination record) had a threefold higher risk for parental report of autism diagnosis compared to boys not vaccinated as neonates during that same time period.”
Aluminum hydroxide injections lead to motor deficits and motor neuron degeneration
SYNOPSIS
Vaccine aluminum injected into mice created significant motor deficits and motor neuron degeneration.
CITATION
Christopher A. Shaw and Michael S. Petrik. Journal Inorganic Biochemistry, 2009 November; 103(11): 1555.
SUMMARY
“Aluminum-treated mice showed significantly increased apoptosis of motor neurons and increases in reactive astrocytes and microglial proliferation within the spinal cord and cortex. Morin stain detected the presence of aluminum in the cytoplasm of motor neurons with some neurons also testing positive for the presence of hyper-phosphorylated tau protein, a pathological hallmark of various neurological diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia. A second series of experiments was conducted on mice injected with six doses of aluminum hydroxide. Behavioural analyses in these mice revealed significant impairments in a number of motor functions as well as diminished spatial memory capacity. The demonstrated neurotoxicity of aluminum hydroxide and its relative ubiquity as an adjuvant suggest that greater scrutiny by the scientific community is warranted. Overall, the results reported here mirror previous work that has clearly demonstrated that aluminum, in both oral and injected forms, can be neurotoxic.”