Greek scientists from the National Center for Scientific Research Demokritos, the Biomedical Sciences Research Center Alexander Fleming and two more researchers from the University of Michigan have discovered that common coding single nucleotide polymorphisms in ERAP1 and ERAP2 are linked with predisposition to human diseases ranging from viral and bacterial infections to autoimmunity and cancer.
The study was published in the Journal of Immunology and according to the team of experts, the variability in human immune response is the result of polymorphic variation in antigen processing enzyme. The important mutation occurs in the gene of the ERAP2 enzyme, which along with ERAP1 are the two enzymes showing the general immune system which kind of cells are being attacked.
This mutation leads to some diseases being more easily recognizable by the human immune system, while others can hide away from the controllers of the human organism. The team of scientists included Irini Evnouchidou, James Birtley, Sergey Seregin, Athanasios Papakyriakou, Efthalia Zervoudi, Martina Samiotaki, George Panayotou, Petros Giastas, Olivia Petrakis, Dimitris Georgiadis, Andrea Amalfitano, Emmanuel Saridakis, Irene M. Mavridis and Efstratios Stratikos.
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