The C6 gene holds the key to human immunity

WASHINGTON DC: The "C6" gene, which has existed in the human body for over 500 million years, holds the key to human immunity.

The National Science Agency of Australia has identified the new gene that plays a vital role in regulating the body's immune response to infection and disease.

The discovery could lead to the development of new treatments for influenza, arthritis and even cancer. The gene, called C6orf106 or "C6", controls the production of proteins involved in infectious diseases, cancer and diabetes.

"Our immune system produces proteins called cytokines that help strengthen the immune system and prevent viruses and other pathogens from replicating and causing disease," said researcher Cameron Stewart.

"C6 regulates this process by disabling the production of certain cytokines to prevent our immune response from getting out of control," she added.

C6-regulated cytokines are involved in a variety of diseases including cancer, diabetes, and inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Discovery helps to improve understanding of our immune system, and we hope that this understanding will enable scientists to develop new, more targeted therapies.

"Although the human genome was fully sequenced for the first time in 2003, there are still thousands of genes we know very little about," said another researcher, Rebecca Ambrose.

Having discovered the function of C6, researchers have the privilege of naming it.

The current name, C6orf106, reflects the location of the gene in the human genome, rather than referring to a particular function. The study appears in Journal of Biological Chemistry.