一项最新研究发现，有些人很容易感染脑膜炎，但有些人对脑膜炎天生免疫，这是因为他们的基因存在不同。这项发现有助于研制针对B型脑膜炎球菌的疫苗。
英国帝国理工学院等机构研究人员在新一期《自然·遗传学》（Nature Genetics）杂志上报告说，他们和同行收集了英国、荷兰、奥地利和西班牙等国约1500名脑膜炎患者的基因数据，并将其与另外5000多名健康人的基因进行了对比。结果发现，在与一种名为H因子的蛋白相关基因中，易患脑膜炎人群与健康人存在差异。
研究人员发现，H因子本身在人体免疫系统中帮助辨别和杀死入侵细菌，但在易患脑膜炎人群中，脑膜炎球菌却可以“劫持”H因子，像“特洛伊木马”那样利用它来骗过人体免疫系统，从而使人们感染脑膜炎。
研究人员指出，这项研究有助于研制针对B型脑膜炎球菌的疫苗。目前，不少类型的脑膜炎现在已有针对性的疫苗，但不包括由B型脑膜炎球菌引起的脑膜炎。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原文出处：
Nature Genetics doi:10.1038/ng.640
Genome-wide association study identifies variants in the CFH region associated with host susceptibility to meningococcal disease
Sonia Davila1,15, Victoria J Wright2,15, Chiea Chuen Khor1, Kar Seng Sim3, Alexander Binder4, Willemijn B Breunis5, David Inwald2, Simon Nadel2, Helen Betts2, Enitan D Carrol6, Ronald de Groot7, Peter W M Hermans7, Jan Hazelzet8, Marieke Emonts8,9, Chui Chin Lim1, Taco W Kuijpers5, Federico Martinon-Torres10,11, Antonio Salas12,13, Werner Zenz4, Michael Levin2,15 & Martin L Hibberd1,15 for the International Meningococcal Genetics Consortium14
Meningococcal disease is an infection caused by Neisseria meningitidis. Genetic factors contribute to host susceptibility and progression to disease, but the genes responsible for disease development are largely unknown1, 2, 3. We report here a genome-wide association study for host susceptibility to meningococcal disease using 475 individuals with meningococcal disease (cases) and 4,703 population controls from the UK. We performed, in Western European and South European cohorts (consisting of 968 cases and 1,376 controls), two replication studies for the most significant SNPs. A cluster of complement factor SNPs replicated independently in both cohorts, including SNPs within complement factor H (CFH) (rs1065489 (p.936D<E), P = 2.2 × 10?11) and in CFH-related protein 3 (CFHR3)(rs426736, P = 4.6 × 10?13). N. meningitidis is known to evade complement-mediated killing by the binding of host CFH to the meningococcal factor H–binding protein (fHbp)4. Our study suggests that host genetic variation in these regulators of complement activation plays a role in determining the occurrence of invasive disease versus asymptomatic colonization by this pathogen.
