We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Evolutionary genetics: Ambiguous role of CCR5 in Y. pestis infection.
- Authors
Elvin, Stephen J.; Williamson, E. Diane; Scott, Joanne C.; Smith, Jeremy N.; De Lema, Guillermo Pérez; Chilla, Silvia; Clapham, Paul; Pfeffer, Klaus; Schlöndorff, Detlef; Luckow, Bruno
- Abstract
Arising from: J. Mecsas et al. 427, 606 (2004)Mecsas and colleagues suggest that a deficiency in the chemokine receptor CCR5 in humans is unlikely to confer protection against plague, based on their study of Yersinia pestis infection in Ccr5-deficient mice. They were testing the hypothesis that a mutation in the CCR5 gene, frequently found in Caucasians, may have been selected for in the past because it provided protection against (bubonic) plague; the mutation, called CCR5?32, is characterized by a 32-base-pair deletion. We have also tested this hypothesis by using Y. pestis infection in mice and, in addition, we have done phagocytosis experiments with macrophages from wild-type and Ccr5-deficient mice. Although, like Mecsas et al., we did not see any difference in the survival of the two groups of mice, we did find that there was a significantly reduced uptake of Y. pestis by Ccr5-deficient macrophages in vitro. Our results indicate that the role of Ccr5 in Y. pestis infection may therefore be more complex than previously thought.
- Subjects
YERSINIA pestis; YERSINIA; INFECTION; GENES; BACTERIAL genetics; BACTERIOLOGY; MACROPHAGES
- Publication
Nature, 2004, Vol 430, Issue 6998, p1
- ISSN
0028-0836
- Publication type
Case Study
- DOI
10.1038/nature02822