Scientists estimate number of Russians almost immune to HIV

"This mutation appeared about a thousand years ago among the Vikings of northern Europe. Its extent in the subcontinent and its absence in Asia and Africa are due to the fact that it reduces the risk of infection by plague and black pox, whose epidemics have resulted in mbadive death in the Middle Age, "says Alexander Rakitko, author of the Genotek study.

In recent years, doctors and virologists have encountered several cases in which the body of some patients had suppressed HIV for an unusually long time or had been permanently or indefinitely cleared of the virus.

As a general rule, in all these cases, with the exception of the so-called "Berlin patient", viral particles again remained in the body of the sick, but they were either unable to reproduce or behaved rather "quietly" for several years. For example, the so-called "Mississippi child" lived about five years before the appearance of repeated signs of infection.

Their extraordinary resistance to HIV is linked to the fact that the human genome contains a small set of genes whose work is crucial for HIV but not too much for the survival of immune cells.

Mutations in these genes, for example in the CXCR4 and CCR5 regions, are found in the DNA of an extremely small number of people. This makes them virtually invulnerable to the action of many varieties of HIV that scientists are trying to "copy" in recent years, by removing these genes with the help of gene therapy or by modifying their structure at the same time. 39, using methods of "forced evolution" of the man.

Scientists from the Moscow State University have recently conducted similar experiments with defective embryos. Chinese molecular biologist He Jiankui announced this week that he was able to conduct such an "operation" on full-fledged embryos and obtain the first "transgenic" children invulnerable virus action.

Rakitko and his colleagues calculated the number of natural carriers of this mutation in Russia, using the database collected by the company when studying the DNA of its clients. In total, scientists were able to study the genomes of more than three thousand Russians from all regions of the country, ethnic groups and social strata the most diverse.

It has turned out that about 1.1% of Russians own two versions of the "successful" CCR5 gene, which prevent the immunodeficiency virus from entering human cells.

This figure generally coincides with the frequency with which this mutation occurs in European countries.

Scientists point out that the presence of such "super powers" does not mean that their wearer is totally immune to the action of HIV. There are several examples of the fact that carriers of this form of the gene are sometimes victims of the disease.

This suggests the existence of extremely rare varieties of the virus that use other channels to penetrate immune cells. In addition, the mutant version of this gene does not protect people from other badually transmitted diseases. Therefore, the discovery of the "correct" version of CCR5 in a person's DNA should not be grounds for refusal to prevent and use protective equipment.