Gene Found In Black Death Survivors Stops HIV

[JazzRemington]

From part of the article:

"Dr. Stephen O'Brien of the National Institutes of Health in Washington D.C. suggests they were. His work with HIV and the mutated form of the gene CCR5, called "delta 32," led him to Eyam. In 1996, research showed that delta 32 prevents HIV from entering human cells and infecting the body. O'Brien thought this principle could be applied to the plague bacteria, which affects the body in a similar manner. To determine whether the Eyam plague survivors may have carried delta 32, O'Brien tested the DNA of their modern-day descendents. What he found out was startling ..."

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/case_plague/

[Severian]

That's interesting. I'd heard of this gene before, as conveying AIDS resistance, but it wasn't known if it had given any advantage before the emergence of AIDS or why it was found (at low frequencies) in certain populations. So the Black Death finding would possibly explain that.

[TheComrade]

There was a programme ages ago about this - or about Eyam especially. Very interesting, but so was the Black Death - came in waves, was rampant then just disappeared...then was back again!

[our_mutual_friend]

But HIV is a mutative, adapting virus (just said so on news haha) so surely it would be able to adapt around this gene?

Here's an interesting fact: HIV has 60,000 sufferers in the UK.

I think AIDS is one of the main problems that needs to be sorted with genetic engineering etc but ... what if a new, more virulent strain occurs and we are unable to adapt to protect ourselves because we have wiped out genes that cause or are affected by HIV??

[TheComrade]

How does genetic engineering resolve the problem of Aids? What about those that live thousands of miles from a specialisted hospital where your genes are altered?!?!

[our_mutual_friend]

No! I mean its a thought for the future. (Perhaps in one where everyone has access to the same commodities ... hmm communist future yes?)

But the question is what will happen if it does and will it work???

[Severian]

Originally posted by [email protected] 21 2005, 01:37 PM
But HIV is a mutative, adapting virus (just said so on news haha) so surely it would be able to adapt around this gene?
Probably not. The attachment site the virus needs just isn't there.

The virus can mutate and evolve to avoid attacks more easily; a variant strain of the virus may not have the features the immune system recognizes. But any variant strain will need this attachment site.

This is part of how evolution works. The path of evolution is limited by what kind of variation is available. Some variation is needed which gives at least a little advantage to survival and reproduction.

[Arca]

Originally posted by pbs.org
He began testing the blood of high-risk, HIV-negative individuals like Steve Crohn, exposing their blood to three thousand times the amount of HIV normally needed to infect a cell. Steve's blood never became infected. "We thought maybe we had infected the culture with bacteria or whatever," says Paxton. "So we went back to Steve. But it was the same result. We went back again and again. Same result." Paxton began studying Crohn's DNA, and concluded there was some sort of blocking mechanism preventing the virus from binding to his cells. Further research showed that that mechanism was delta 32.

Three thousand times? That's insane. Even if it mutates, I don't think it would be fast enough or far enough. I mean the bubonic plague was everywhere - you'd think it'd have mutated to get around the gene.

Maybe the virus will create towns and raise armies to attack the gene :P