Ancient Antibody Molecule Offers Clues To How Humans Evolved Allergies
Saturday, June 14, 2008 - 00:35
in Biology & Nature
Scientists have discovered how evolution may have lumbered humans with allergy problems. The team are working on a molecule vital to a chicken's immune system which represents the evolutionary ancestor of the human antibodies that cause allergic reactions. Crucially, they have discovered that the chicken molecule behaves quite differently from its human counterpart, which throws light on the origin and cause of allergic reactions in humans and gives hope for new strategies for treatment.