Science, Space and Technology News 2024
Researchers discovered that the J chain, a key component of the immune system that stabilizes certain antibodies, originally came from the CXCL chemokine gene family. This finding sheds light on the evolutionary adaptation of the immune system and has potential implications for developing personalized immune therapies. Credit: SciTechDaily.com
The researchers, including Kazuhiko Kawasaki, associate research professor of anthropology at Penn State, published their findings in the. According to the team, while this work primarily informs a fundamental understanding of one feature of the immune system and associated genes, it may also help open design pathways future therapeutics, such as personalized immune responses.
Flajnik said he had a hunch that the J chain was related to a group of secretory calcium-binding phosphoprotein genes due to their similar charges and levels of proline, an amino acid. He knew Kawasaki was an expert on SCPP genes, so he emailed him to assess the idea. However, Kawasaki had noticed that genes on the opposite side of the J chain gene, away from the SCPP genes, did appear to be related to the J chain. Those were the CXCL chemokine genes.
“No other gene encoding the human secretome, which encompasses all proteins that can be secreted by cells of an organism, shares all three characteristics,” Kawasaki said.
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