An international team of researchers has identified a key protein involved in the immune system’s response to malaria, tuberculosis (TB) and a number of other infectious diseases. The insights suggest possible new therapies to tackle these major global diseases.Professor Luke O’Neill from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, identified the protein in 2001. The protein, known as Mal, alerts the immune system to respond against invading bacteria. Now, Professor Adrian Hill from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, UK, has shown that there are two variants of Mal in humans and that the combination of these variants determines how the immune system responds. >>> Discuss This Story
