The Shots

by meepers anonymous

Its appears that Bree's dad was giving her shots to reduce her levels of
ribozymes, however what exactly was he giving her?

Epogen:
Epogen is able to stimulate the bone marrow to produce more red blod cells
(RBC). (See comment 356) However increasing RBCs is unlikely to decrease
ribozyme numbers. Cells are selective in the proteins they produce. Since
there are several different ribozymes maybe the one that Bree has lots of
is only expressed in RBCs. RBCs are also some of the easiest cells to
harvest from the body. Perhaps the Order wants to boost Bree's RBCs so when
they take her blood, there are more cells and hence more ribozymes.


Ribozyme inhibitors:
A list of 15 inhibitors were found at
www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1440893&rendertype=table&id=T2

However many of these are toxic so they are unlikely candidates (see
comment 111)

siRNA:
Bree's dad could be giving her siRNA specific to the ribozyme (see comment
363). To explain siRNA we need to remember DNA is double stranded. There
is 2 strands which are complementary to eachother and hence stick together
(like a zipper). RNA is only single stranded (one side of the zipper). Once
RNA is translated to protein it is degraded. To understand siRNA, you need
to follow this picture (http://www.scq.ubc.ca/wp-content/siRNA.gif).


Sometimes RNA is double stranded. A complex called Dicer can chop this RNA
up into little bits called siRNA (small interfering RNAs). siRNA can then
join with a complex called RISC. A part of the RISC complex breaks the
double strands apart and keeps the strand which is complementary to other
single strands of RNA. When siRNA/RISC bind to the other RNAs
they cause their degradation. Ribozymes are also RNA. Bree’s dad
could have designed siRNAs which would be specifically complementary to
the ribozyme she has an excess of. The siRNA would target and bind
to the ribozyme, and it would be degraded reducing her levels.

However, there are some problems with this theory. siRNA sometimes degrades
RNA for other proteins so it needs to be very very specific or someone coul
dbe very sick! Also it is a temporary so Bree would have needed to have the
siRNA all the time. Also how did Bree's dad deliver the siRNA? It would be
degraded if just injected straight into the bloodstream.