McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) researchers have defined genetic resistance to the widespread virus, cytomegalovirus (CMV)--a member of the viral group that causes some of the world's most prevalent diseases, such as herpes, chicken pox and mononucleosis.
The groundbreaking research published in Nature Genetics last week, provides a roadmap for the development of human therapies for CMV, which could prolong the life of HIV patients and improve the success of transplant surgery by reducing the risk of rejection. There is currently no treatment or cure for CMV.
Resistance to diseases like CMV depends, at least partially, on the ability of our body's defense mechanism to recognize and destroy them. "Detecting these pathogens is not always easy," says Dr. Silvia Vidal, a Canada Research Chair in Host Response to Virus Infection based at the MUHC and lead author of the new research. "CMV has developed cunning disguises to avoid detection by our Natural Killer cells--one of several cell types that hunt-down and terminate unwelcome invaders within our body." Our Natural Killer cells and the pathogens they fight have been locked in an evolutionary arms race for millions of years in an attempt to overwhelm each other.