The human genome contains billions of pieces of information and around 22,000 genes, but not all of it is, strictly speaking, human. Eight percent of our DNA consists of remnants of ancient viruses, and another 40 percent is made up of repetitive strings of genetic letters that is also thought to have a viral origin. Those extensive viral regions are much more than evolutionary relics: They may be deeply involved with a wide range of diseases including multiple sclerosis, hemophilia, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), along with certain types of dementia and cancer. [...]
Avi Nath, the clinical director of the National Institute for Neurological Disease and Stroke, helped draw attention to the importance of TDP-43 starting a decade ago. While studying a group of HIV-positive patients with ALS-like symptoms, Nath found that the anti-HIV drugs they were taking were also improving their ALS symptoms. He suspected that the drugs designed to fight the HIV virus were also suppressing the virus-like activity from jumping genes.
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