Several Down syndrome features may be linked to a hyperactive antiviral immune response – new research
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Monday, June 5, 2023
People, Infection, CRISPR, Lupus, Hallucination, Ventricular septal defect, Tofacitinib, Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder predominantly inattentive, Speech, JAK, Embryo, COVID-19, Spectrum, Quality of life, Skull, Research, Brain, Gene expression, DSM-IV codes, Cell, Life expectancy, Down syndrome, Hypertension, Protein, Risk, Immune system, Cancer, Institutionalisation, Viral, Mouse, Interferon, Safety, Gene, Memory, Trisomy, Genome, Pharmaceutical industry, Dietary supplement, Vaccine
In the early 1900s, less than 20% of newborns with Down syndrome survived past age 5.
Key Points:
- In the early 1900s, less than 20% of newborns with Down syndrome survived past age 5.
- In the U.S. today, more than 90% of babies with this condition live past age 10 and have a life expectancy of nearly 60 years.
- On the other hand, people with Down syndrome tend to have lower levels of hypertension and certain types of cancers.
When too much of a good thing is bad
- While interferons do trigger a beneficial immune response against viral infections, chronic interferon hyperactivity could have detrimental effects.
- Notably, four of the six human interferon receptor genes are located on chromosome 21.
- Because people with Down syndrome have three copies of chromosome 21, they also have three copies of the interferon receptor genes on it.
- Overall, our findings suggest that the tripling of interferon receptor genes may cause a number of key traits of Down syndrome.
Therapeutic implications and future directions
- It also supports the possibility of using drugs that attenuate this response to treat some of the negative health effects of trisomy 21.
- Our team is currently leading two clinical trials to test the safety and efficacy of one such drug, tofacitinib (Xeljanz).
- This drug belongs to a class of drugs known as JAK inhibitors used to treat autoinflammatory conditions.