A new preprint provides evidence that the spike protein of both SARS-CoV-2 and mRNA vaccinations inhibits an important tumor suppressor protein, which may lead to increased incidence of cancer.

The preprint, titled ‘SARS-CoV-2 spike S2 subunit inhibits p53 activation of p21(WAF1), TRAIL Death Receptor DR5 and MDM2 proteins in cancer cells,’ and published on 15 April, is authored by Brown University Professors Shengliang Zhang and Wafik El-Deiry. The latter is the Director of the Cancer Centre at the University.

The scientists set out to determine if the S2 component of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein interacts with a tumor suppressor protein called p53. This particular protein is called the ‘guardian of the genome’ for its important role in DNA damage response and repair.

The authors found that S2 had a suppressive effect on p53, which suggests that “the SARS-CoV-2 spike causes an altered DNA damage sensing and repair response in cancer cells.”

In turn, this finding “provides a potential molecular mechanism by which SARS-CoV-2 infection may impact tumorigenesis, tumor progression and chemotherapy sensitivity.”

In other words, a component of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein can lead to the development of tumors and may inhibit positive effects of cancer therapeutics.

Significantly, the authors note that this finding has implications for mRNA vaccines too, which instruct your body to make the very same spike protein as the wild SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The authors write,

“Our results have implications for the biological effects of spike S2 subunit in human cells whether spike is present due to primary COVID-19 infection or due to mRNA vaccines where its expression is used to promote anti-viral immunity.”

Polymath Dr Jessica Rose has already offered a brief take in a post fittingly titled, ‘S2 of SARS-2 spike buggers up p53.’

This new preprint confirms earlier findings. A peer-reviewed article, ‘S2 Subunit of SARS-nCoV-2 Interacts with Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 and BRCA: an In Silico Study,’ published in the journal Translational Oncology in October 2020 claimed to be the first to report the interaction between S2 proteins with tumor suppressor proteins p53 and BRCA-1/2.

Another peer-reviewed study published in the journal Viruses in October 2021 found that the SARS–CoV–2 spike protein significantly inhibited DNA damage repair by impeding key DNA repair proteins BRCA1 and p53 recruitment to the damage site.

The paper titled ‘SARS–CoV–2 Spike Impairs DNA Damage Repair and Inhibits V(D)J Recombination In Vitro’, was authored by scientists Hui Jiang and Ya-Fang Mei.

Similar to Zhang & El-Deiry, the authors of this study concluded that this finding would apply to the virus spike as well as the vaccine spike, stating,

“Our findings reveal a potential molecular mechanism by which the spike protein might impede adaptive immunity and underscore the potential side effects of full-length spike-based vaccines.”

This may have been the right scientific conclusion to draw at the wrong time. The paper was retracted in May 2022 under strange circumstances, a move that appeared to be politically motivated. Arkmedic covered this paper and the scandal surrounding its retraction in a post, ‘Welcome to Gilead.’

Two years on, and coming from established professors at Brown University, the Zhang & El-Deiry paper is unlikely to suffer the same fate.

As the Jiang & Mei paper is now retracted, I have attached a PDF.