The biological significance of evolution in autoimmune phenomena

Human endogenous retroviruses (HERV) and non-HERV viruses incorporated into the human genome and their role in the development of autoimmune diseases

Genomic incorporation of viruses as human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) are components of our genome that possibly originated by incorporating ancestral of exogenous viruses. Their roles in the evolution of the human genome, gene expression, and the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases (ADs) and neoplastic phenomena are the subject of intense research. This review analyzes the evolutionary and virological aspects of HERVs and other viruses that incorporate their genome into the human genome and have known role in the genesis of ADs. These insights are helpful to understand further the possible role in autoimmunity genesis of HERVs, other ancestral viruses no HERVs and modern viruses with the ability to incorporate into the human genome or interact with HERVs.

Of mice, men and immunity: a case for evolutionary systems biology

Animal models have been tremendously useful to translational research, but there is a need to maximize their predictive value to human disease. This Comment proposes novel strategies that consider evolutionary history and the presence, absence or modification of molecular networks in one species that are being studied in the other.

The Coincidence of Newly Diagnosed Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus with IgM Antibody Positivity to Enteroviruses and Respiratory Tract Viruses

OBJECTIVE

Viruses trigger and promote islet cell destruction and cause type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). However, the existence of a cause-and-effect relationship is under debate. The aim of this study is to investigate the sero-epidemiological and molecular evidence on enteroviruses and respiratory viruses in patients with newly diagnosed T1DM during the cold season.

DESIGN

Forty children newly diagnosed with T1DM and 30 healthy children who presented to the clinic over the course of a year were included in the study. The IgM antibodies against enteroviruses and respiratory viruses were studied using the indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) test, and no CBV4-specific RNA was detected in the children. The onset times of T1DM were classified into fall-winter and spring-summer seasons and separated into cold, moderate, or warm months in terms of temperature.

RESULTS

The percentages of viral IgM antibodies against most common viruses were detected in the patients as follows: influenza B (IVB) (70%), echovirus 7 (ECHO7) (45%), parainfluenza virus 4 (PIV4) (40%), coxsackievirus A7 (CAV7) (27.5%), and H3N2 (22.5%). Compared with the control group, the above viruses had a significant association with T1DM (p ≤ 0.001, p ≤ 0.001, p = 0.035, p = 0.003, and p = 0.023, resp.). CBV4-specific RNA was not detected in any serum. A total of 75% and 95% patients were diagnosed with T1DM in the fall-winter seasons and cold-moderate months, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Our study demonstrates the significant association between T1DM and the presence of IgM antibodies against IVB, ECHO7, PIV4, CAV7, and H3N2, and the majority of newly diagnosed T1DM appeared in the fall-winter season. It suggests that enteroviruses and respiratory viruses, in addition to seasonal variation, could play a role in the etiopathogenesis and clinical onset of T1DM.

Possible influence of resistance to malaria in clinical presentation of rheumatoid arthritis: biological significance of natural selection

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common autoimmune disease that affects all ethnic groups. Genetic factors, mainly HLA alleles, are highly associated with increased risk to develop RA. However, there are few available data about the role of these genetic polymorphisms in the prevalence or severity of RA in the Afrodescendant population, who have evolutionarily and by natural selection developed mutations that allowed them to acquire resistance to infectious diseases like malaria. Some of the mechanisms, by which this resistance was developed as a product of natural selection, are involved in different forms of immunological response, many of them of a well-known importance in the pathophysiology of RA. This paper focuses on presenting the known mechanisms of resistance to malaria and their possible contribution to the pathophysiology of RA, including "loss-of-function" mutations, lack of expression of chemokine receptors, decrease of immune complexes clearance by asplenia, or increase of immune reactivity mediated by B cells, among other mechanisms in this special group of patients.