Friday, June 22, 2007

Human Immunity To 'Viral Fossil' May Help Explain Our Vulnerability To HIV

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070621140809.htm

Human resistance to a retrovirus that infected chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates 4 million years ago ironically may be at least partially responsible for the susceptibility of humans to HIV infection today.

"However, while TRIM5a may have served humans well millions of years ago, the antiviral protein does not seem to be good at defending against any of the retroviruses that currently infect humans, such as HIV-1," Emerman said. "In the end, this drove human evolution to be more susceptible to HIV." For example, the researchers found that changes in TRIM5a that make it better at fighting HIV actually inhibit its ability to stop PtERV1 and vice versa, which indicates that this antiviral gene may only be good at fighting off one virus at a time.


Reminds me of the evidence that some dietary factors that protect against heart disease might increase the risk of cancer.

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