Why Old World Monkeys are Less Susceptible to Hep B
Old world monkeys, monkeys living in Africa and Asia, are naturally resistant to the Hepatitis B Virus unlike apes and humans. Scientists, including Professor Koichi Watashi from Tokyo university, recently discovered why old world monkeys are more resistant to the virus. They focused specifically on the differences between Humans and Macaques.
The researchers found that while human NTCP allows HBV to bind via its preS1 region, Macaque NTCP does not, due to the differences in their amino acids. The researchers also discovered that bile acids compete with HBV to bind to NTCP, and bile acids with long chains inhibit viral binding. This research suggests that it will be possible to use this information to develop more ways to treat Hepatitis B.
This is very interesting. I never knew about this, I have heard about how some primates and monkey are more susceptible to some illness that humans get and that why you have to be careful when exposing them to others. I think if scientist can figure out how these monkeys have this immunity and transfer it to help treat humans it could help a lot of people.
ReplyDelete