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Genetic HIV Resistance Deciphered

Posted by michael on from the mutations-deemed-useful dept.

hexed_2050 writes "Researchers have pin-pointed the reason why some people have a greater immunity, or in some cases, total immunity to the HIV virus. They credit a genetic defect that can be traced back to Europeans in the middle ages."

17 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. Defect? by AtariAmarok · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm not sure I'd call such a mutation a "defect".

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    1. Re:Defect? by St.+Arbirix · · Score: 2, Insightful

      How about sickle-cell anemia?
      It has its problems but it also makes you immune to Tse-Tse flies.

      Our sense of "art" or creativity is supposed to be the result of some mutation a long time ago. It lets us solve some truly incredible problems (esp. when compared to animals) but also opens us up to all sorts of bizarre mental disorders. Defect?

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    2. Re:Defect? by Anonymous+Writer · · Score: 2, Informative

      I'm not sure I'd call such a mutation a "defect".

      It has been linked to a greater vulnerability to Hepatitis C, which there is still no vaccine for.

  2. Well.. by WhatAmIDoingHere · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You scratch a living out of the mud and shit and you're going to end up immune to something..

    Kinda like people who work at hospitals, they usually never get sick enough to miss a day of work due to catching a little bit of everything while working.

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  3. Future evolution by Lonesome+Squash · · Score: 5, Interesting
    The number of people who die from AIDS is a very strong selection pressure. Unless the epidemic is halted medically, we can expect that it won't be many generations before these mutations are nearly universal. If they have lingered this long in the population, they can't be strongly deleterious.

    Eventually we will probably be like the chimpanzees, who have a pronounced lack of diversity in the genes for certain immune receptors as well as immunity to AIDS. Scientists view this as evidence that an AIDS-like plague swept through the Chimpanzee population in the not-too-distant past.

    The idea that AIDS will one day burn itself out of the population may not be much comfort to those who have it, nor to those who must grow up in a world where they must face that risk -- especially for those growing up in coutries with 40% infection rates. But I find it comforting, anyway.

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    1. Re:Future evolution by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 3, Insightful


      The number of people who die from AIDS is a very strong selection pressure. Unless the epidemic is halted medically, we can expect that it won't be many generations before these mutations are nearly universal.

      What is many generations in your sense? 10? 100?

      Seriously, you have some simple stuff about how selection works misconcepted.

      No selection when:
      o as long as one who dies on AIDS already has children
      o as long as one who has AIDS fathers or mothers a child
      o as long as one who is not ill and has not the gene gets a child

      A gene can only spread via selecion if all other individuals in a population suffer from not having the gene.

      Currently a minority suffers. Having the gene or not does not influence "breeding" and thus there is no selection happening.

      If at all teh selection is happening in reverse, the virus is adapting itslef to become less letal. Because while one human is dying the virus runs through 1000nds of generations.

      angel'o'sphere

      --
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  4. Carefull Now by WaZiX · · Score: 3, Insightful

    These genetics mutations are quite rare (1%) and the delta32 Mutation only protects strains of HIV that use CCR5 proteins to help them break into the cells, so yes a very few people are immune to most strains of HIV. And this is why doctors will prbably never allow people get tested for delta32 mutation.

  5. Let me guess... by skinfitz · · Score: 3, Funny


    Let me guess - the people with the "defect" are all christian nutt..er.. fundamentalists?

    Wonder how long it will be before one of the nutters latches on to this story.

    Wonder how long after that before research is done into the feasibility of using a retro virus to rewrite the DNA of HIV+ people to include the "immune" gene, thus curing them.

    Oh no wait - it's god that makes people infected because they are gay isn't it? Silly old science - how could it possibly be right. Lets burn all the books while we are at it.

    1. Re:Let me guess... by andreMA · · Score: 3, Interesting
      I'm not sure the parent is a troll. They're speculating that some group which happens to have this gene will cite this as "proof" that they are "God's chosen". After all, it couldn't have resulted from evolution, in their view.

      The insanity is not the poster, but the hypothetical group he cites. Given that we have fundie nutcases (as opposed to non-fundie ones; there are nutcases enough to go around) claiming that the tsunami was punishment from God, I don't think it's farfetched.

    2. Re:Let me guess... by skinfitz · · Score: 2

      Well IIRC it says in most flavours of the bible regarding entrance into "heaven" that only men "undefiled by women" may enter.

      Now I don't know about you, but I see a loophole there for gay men...

  6. what a disappointment! by phreakuencies · · Score: 3, Informative

    I was thinking in posting this story because the team of researchers were formed by 3 argentinians (I live there) and "study co-author Dr. Sunil K. Ahuja". This isn't mentioned anywhere in the article. In fact, an announcement was made in a local Hospital ("Garrahan") here and presented by different media as a discovery made by this groups of argentinians collaborating with Ahuja. I would really like this post updated with this important info. Links to the local story (in spanish): Clarin newspaper The names of the three argentinian investigators: "Andrea Mangano, Luisa Sen y Rosa Bologna".

  7. I did say "nearly universal" by Lonesome+Squash · · Score: 4, Informative
    This is a recessive mutation (ignoring partial immunity for a minute). The truly-immune percentage of the population will be the square of the gene frequency. Let's say that AIDS begins to recede when 36% of the population is immune. For 36% of the population to be immune, 60% of the genes will need to be the mutated variety. At that point only 16% of the population will be carrying two non-mutated genes. Okay, maybe I exaggerated the "not many generations" but the point stands.

    This is the opposite of the recessive extinction problem, where the percentages work against you (that's why deleterious recessives thrive so well when they are rare).

    --
    Behold the riant ape! Beware, his crooked thumbs!
  8. It's just HIV, not HIV virus! by Ayanami_Rei_II · · Score: 3, Informative

    HIV = Human Immunodeficiency Virus
    PIN = Personal Identification Number

    There's no need to repeat the last word of the the acronym!

  9. Re:BBC documentary by davidyorke · · Score: 3, Informative

    I saw a show about this on PBS. It was something like two years ago.

    http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/case_plague/inde x. html

    Here's some other news. George Bush won the election ... against Al Gore.

  10. Black plague by booch · · Score: 2, Interesting

    OK, how can you mention "genetic defect" and "Europeans in the middle ages" without mentioning the bubonic plague and Black Death? It's even in the article. Really, the first question I had when I read the Slashdot blurb was whether they're somehow related. Scientists first thought they might be related, but now think that it was probably something more like smallpox. Anyway, RTFA if this interests you.

    --
    Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
  11. Re:Defect?...of course! by clonan · · Score: 2, Informative

    It is a defect because it makes the immune cell less effective!

    That protein allows immune cells to lock onto each other and help to destroy disease.

    Since these cells lack this mechanism, they don't lock onto other immune cells as well and aren't as good at killing things. This affects EVERYTHING the cell does.

    So while the person is protected against AIDS, they are more suceptible to every single other illness and injury out there.

    It's a trade off...and therefore a defect.

  12. Sort of like genetic magnet-power defect. by AtariAmarok · · Score: 3, Funny
    "It's a trade off...and therefore a defect"

    Ah. like the rare genetic defect carried by Eric Lenscherr. His genes gave him remarkable powers over magnatism. The tradeoff? An overwhelming desire to control the world, which did not make him welcome at parties.

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    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.