Scientists find gene that can make flu a killer

[tetano]

London: A genetic discovery could help explain why flu makes some people seriously ill or kills them, while others seem able to bat it away with little more than a few aches, coughs and sneezes.

In a study published in the journal Nature on Sunday, British and American researchers said they had found for the first time a human gene that influences how people respond to flu infections, making some people more susceptible than others.

The finding helps explain why during the 2009/2010 pandemic of H1N1 or "swine flu", the vast majority of people infected had only mild symptoms, while others - many of them healthy young adults - got seriously ill and died.

In future, the genetic discovery could help doctors screen patients to identify those more likely to be brought down by flu, allowing them to be selected for priority vaccination or preventative treatment during outbreaks, the researchers said.

It could also help develop new vaccines or medicines against potentially more dangerous viruses such as bird flu.

Paul Kellam of Britain`s Sanger Institute, who co-led the study and presented the findings in a telephone briefing, said the gene, called ITFITM3, appeared to be a "crucial first line of defense" against flu.

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http://zeenews.india.com/news/healt...nd-gene-that-can-make-flu-a-killer_16217.html

 

[tetano]

Re: Scientists find gene that can make flu a killer

Primary source: Nature
Source reference:
Everitt AR, et al "IFITM3 restricts the morbidity and mortality associated with influenza" Nature 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nature10921.


A genetic variation may partly explain why some people became extremely ill from the pandemic H1N1 flu, while most infected people had only mild illness, researchers reported.

The gene involved is called IFITM3 and it's from the interferon-inducible transmembrane (IFITM) protein family. The gene is a key part of the body's defenses against influenza A, according to Abraham Brass, MD, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and his U.K. colleagues.

In animals lacking the gene, a usually innocuous flu strain develops into fulminant viral pneumonia, Brass and colleagues reported online in Nature.

And, crucially, a small but significant proportion of those admitted to hospital during the pandemic had a variant of the gene that reduces its activity, the researchers said.

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http://www.medpagetoday.com/InfectiousDisease/URItheFlu/31825

 

[tetano]

Re: Scientists find gene that can make flu a killer

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