My husband entered the ICU due to the new crown, but I am safe and may never be infected

One day last June, Erik Soares de Araujo slipped down the stairs of his home in Sao Paulo, Brazil
.

At that time, Brazil was experiencing the impact of the new crown epidemic
.

The hospital's test results showed that Erik's lungs had suffered multiple injuries, indicating that the lungs had been severely infected by the new coronavirus
.

Later, Erik was also sent to the ICU ward, where he received several weeks of treatment
.

What is even more curious is that Thais has participated in an academic conference, and there have also been group infections at the conference
.

These facts all point to an incredible direction: Thais is naturally immune to the new coronavirus, and a certain mechanism in her body protects her from infection
.

They are not exceptional
.

Disease resistance gene

Professor Zatz believes that the reason these people are so lucky may be that they have natural disease-resistance genes
.

The more significant impact on humans is the discovery of the Δ-32 gene mutation, which allows a small number of people to have natural immunity to HIV
.

▲HIV-1 (green) and lymphocytes (picture source: Wikipedia, public domain, Photo credit: CDC/ C.
Goldsmith)

The story goes back to 1978
.
At that time, a young man named Stephen Crohn was horrified to discover that his friends had died of unexplained diseases one by one, and even his partner was unfortunately recruited
.
However, God seemed to take special care of him—the strange symptoms of friends and family members had never happened to him
.

But this cannot be explained simply by luck
.
Scientists soon discovered that the pathogen infected by people around Stephen was the HIV virus
.
According to the understanding at the time, there was absolutely no possibility that he would be spared
.

But Stephen does have the magic power to fight the HIV virus
.
Even if scientists wanted to infect his cells with HIV in vitro, they have been unable to succeed
.
Subsequent genetic analysis found that he did have a rare genetic mutation—the CCR5 gene was missing 32 bases, and the Δ-32 mutation was named after it
.

CCR5 is located on the cell surface and is one of the co-receptors for HIV invading cells
.
In those with a delta-32 mutation in CCR5, HIV cannot smoothly bind to the surface of white blood cells, so it cannot infect these immune cells
.
Such people are very rare, only 1% of the population
.

New crown super immune

Professor Zatz believes that the situation of "uncoordinated couples" in the new crown indicates the existence of the new crown resistance gene
.
She recruited many volunteers for "uncoordinated couples" and received a total of about 3,000 email responses
.
According to the letter, she selected 100 people for genetic sequencing
.

In April of this year, she published preliminary research results and found that genes related to immune regulation may play an important role in the super-immune patients of the new crown
.
Interestingly, most of the people who are super immune to the new crown are women
.

Among them, the changes in genes related to the activation of natural killer cells (NK cells) are very eye-catching
.
In couples, the MICA gene expression level of the infected party will increase, the MICB gene expression level will decrease, and the NK cell activity will be weaker
.
The genetic level of immunized patients shows the opposite trend-due to some mutations, the expression of key genes in their bodies will be different, making NK cells more active, which may help them resist the new coronavirus infection
.

Other research teams are also using their own methods to find new coronavirus immune genes
.
On the other side of the earth, the team of Professor Benjamin tenOever of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has used CRISPR technology to knock out genes in cells one by one, observing which genes are knocked out, cells can resist infection by the new coronavirus
.
Those cells that can survive are obviously knocked out of genes that are important for viral infection
.

The research was published in the journal Cell earlier this year
.
The researchers discovered a gene called RAB7A, which plays an important role in intracellular transport
.
By preventing the expression of RAB7A, the ACE2 receptor required by the new coronavirus to bind to the cell is not transported to the cell surface, thereby reducing the probability of the virus infecting the cell
.

Extraordinary meaning

For Thais, it doesn't matter if they are super immune
.
If the husband who lives in the same room is particularly susceptible to the virus, there is nothing to be happy about being a super immune
.

But for scientists, these super-immune people are of great significance
.
These research results clearly show that, just like what happens in HIV, the combined effect of some genetic mutations may create a super immunity of the new coronavirus
.

Note: The original text has been deleted

Reference materials:

[1] A lucky few seem'resistant' to Covid-19.
Scientists want to know why Retrieved Sep.
18, 2021 from https:// -to-covid19-scientists-want-to-know-why-2/

[2] The disease-resistant patients exposing Covid-19's weak spots Retrieved Sep.
18, 2021 from https:// -weak-spots

[3] Immunogenetics of resistance to SARS-CoV-2 infection in discordant couples.
Doi: https://doi.
org/10.
1101/2021.
04.
21.
21255872

[4] New Studies Find Evidence Of'Superhuman' Immunity To COVID-19 In Some Individuals Retrieved Sep.
18, 2021 from https:// studies-find-evidence-of-superhuman-immunity-to-covid-19-in-some-individuals