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The Australian National Science Agency CSIRO has identified a 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. The gene has existed for 500 million years, but its potential is now understood.
"Our immune system produces proteins called cytokines that help fortify the immune system and prevent viruses and other pathogens from replicating and causing disease." Researcher Cameron Stewart said:
"C6 regulates this process by disabling the production of certain cytokines to prevent our immune response from escaping any control."
"C6-regulated cytokines are involved in a variety of diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis."
Discovery helps to improve our understanding of our immune system, and we hope this understanding will enable scientists to develop new, more targeted therapies.
Rebecca Ambrose was part of the CSIRO team that discovered the gene, and co-wrote the recent article announcing the discovery in the Journal of Biological Chemistry [1]. 9459014]
"Although the human genome was fully sequenced in 2003, there are still thousands of genes we know very little about," Rebecca Ambrose, a former CSIRO researcher, now based at the Institute Hudson's Medical Research said.
"It is exciting to consider that C6 has existed for more than 500 million years, preserved and transmitted from simple organisms to humans.But it is only now that we begin to understand its importance. "
Having discovered the function of C6, researchers have the privilege of naming it, and are asking the help of the community to do it. The name C6orf106 reflects the location of the gene in the human genome, rather than referring to a particular function, "said Dr. Stewart.
"We think we can do better and invite the public to make suggestions. 19659005] A short list of names will be available for final approval by a third party in power
The breakthrough builds on decades of work on infectious diseases, led by CSIRO researchers, the agency national scientist of Australia.
Learn more:
Light the flame of rheumatoid arthritis through a cellular cascade
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