Neanderthal link to immunity
Monday November 25th, 2013
Many Europeans may benefit from an immune system boost they received from ancient Neanderthals, scientists have claimed.
The
German researchers have found a critical new component of the immune system
- and say it can be found in two-thirds of Europeans.
The component is one of the receptors used by the immune system to scan invading organisms, according to the German scientists.
Up to now three of these had been identified and the latest discovery marks a fourth.
Writing in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the researchers say the gene for the receptor is rare in southern Africa - but can be found in DNA extracted from Neanderthals.
The researchers say the immune system component must have evolved in Europe.
The receptor is known as HLA-DRaDPb and consists of sub-units of the other three receptors.
Researcher Professor Norbert Koch, from the University of Bonn, Germany, said: "When early man, the ancestor of today’s humans, left Africa and migrated a few hundred thousand years ago to Europe, he did not yet have this receptor."
“The identified Neanderthal gene sequence is almost identical with that of modern humans."
A novel family of human leukocyte antigen class II receptors may have its origin in archaic human species, Journal of Biological Chemistry November 2013; doi: 10.1074/jbc.M113.515767
Tags: Europe | General Health
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