Rapid Evolution of Primate Type 2 Immune Response Factors Linked to Asthma Susceptibility.

ABSTRACT: Host immunity pathways evolve rapidly in response to antagonism by pathogens. Microbial infections can also trigger excessive inflammation that contributes to diverse autoimmune disorders including asthma, lupus, diabetes, and arthritis. Definitive links between immune system evolution and human autoimmune disease remain unclear. Here we provide evidence that several components of the type 2 immune response pathway have been subject to recurrent positive selection in the primate lineage. Notably, substitutions in the central immune regulator IL13 correspond to a polymorphism linked to asthma susceptibility in humans. We also find evidence of accelerated amino acid substitutions as well as gene gain and loss events among eosinophil granule proteins, which act as toxic antimicrobial effector

SUBMITTER: Barber MF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5569703 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature