The flu susceptibility gene has been discovered
The result of a joint study conducted by specialists from several British and American scientific institutions under the leadership of Professor Paul Kellam from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute was the identification of a special variant of the IFITM3 gene that causes increased human susceptibility to the influenza virus.
The assumption about the ability of IFITM3, belonging to the family of interferon-induced transmembrane proteins, to protect cells from virus penetration was first suggested based on the results of studies conducted using the genetic screening method. According to these results, the IFITM3 protein blocks the reproduction of influenza and tropical fever viruses in cells.
To confirm the ability of this protein to protect the body from viral infections, the authors compared the reactions to influenza infection that develop in normal animals and in mice without the IFITM3 gene. The results of observations showed that the absence of the IFITM3 gene is enough to turn a moderate viral disease into a lethal infection.
Sections of lung tissue show how in mice with two "good" copies of IFITM3 (left) and deprived of this gene (right), the differences in the degree of spread of the virus a day after infection are minimal, and 6 days after the onset of the disease become much more pronounced.
After that, the researchers sequenced the IFITM3 gene of 53 patients hospitalized for flu treatment, and found in some of them a mutant version of the gene, rarely found in the general population. The revealed mutation reduces the activity of the IFITM3 gene, thereby increasing the susceptibility of its carriers to viral infections.
The researchers believe that the data they have obtained are extremely important not only because they explain the variability of reactions developing in different people in response to infection with the same virus. The introduction of genetic screening to identify an identified variant of the IFITM3 gene into clinical practice should increase the effectiveness of preventive measures taken to prevent the development of influenza epidemics and other viral diseases.
Article by Aaron R. Everitt et al. IFITM3 restricts the morbidity and mortality associated with influenza published in the journal Nature.
Evgeniya Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru /
based on the materials of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute: Genetics of flu susceptibility.
27.03.2012