Barrier gestures, physical activity, diet… We can put the odds on our side but we are not all equal when it comes to health. Here’s how to explain immune system differences.
Are you sick all the time? It’s probably not your fault, but it could be your immune system’s fault. It has not been uncommon during the Covid pandemic to hear stories of couples confined together, one of them falling ill and the other coming out with nothing. For to stay healthy, some focus on a healthy diet. Others rely on regular physical activity, such as walking or cycling. But the answer could be hidden in your DNA.
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Science & Life looks back at a scientific study shedding light on the reasons why some people get sick all the time, and others never (they are nicknamed “the invulnerables”). In 2014, researchers became interested in the resistance of individuals. They studied people genetically affected by sickle cell disease. While this serious illness causes joint pain and anemia, the people in question were in perfect health. Could observing them help find a treatment?
Health: focus on strengths and not weaknesses
THE Resilience Project was carried out on a larger scale: systematic research was carried out on mutations responsible for almost 700 so-called monogenic pediatric diseases, that is to say that a mutation in the DNA almost always causes the pathology. By finding the “rare pearl” who is in good health despite this, we can analyze her profile in search of the mutations which protected her. They estimate that approximately one in 20,000 people may be “invulnerable”.
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This theory will be extended in research against Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, breast cancer… But the task will be complicated by the environmental factors of some of these conditions. The path is in all cases a real hope: focusing on our strengths and not on our weaknesses can open the way to incredible discoveries.
How do we resist certain diseases?
But how do some resist more than others? For an infectious disease like AIDS, it would be a mutation in the gene which links HIV and immune cells. The mutation modifies its shape and prevents the virus from entering cells and then multiplying there. For a lifestyle diseaselike heart attack, DNA mutations could increase the number of sensors for “bad” cholesterol, which is destroyed more efficiently.
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For a genetic diseaselike sickle cell anemia, genetic mutations compensate for a failure “of the gene coding for beta-globin (the molecule that transports oxygen in the blood)” and which usually causes anemia. The mutations make a second type of hemoglobin, which keeps the person healthy.
Editor for Aufeminin since 2022, Charlotte is passionate about cinema, French and international, and a fortune reader. Curious about everything, she talks as much about personalities as…