A human protein inherited from bacteria reveals an unknown dimension of immunity

What if bacteria held the keys to part of our own immunity? Over the past few years, scientists have been exploring the unexpected links between the human proteins involved in the body's defense and certain bacterial immune mechanisms. This has been the focus of research for a team of scientists from the Institut Curie, the Institut Pasteur and Inserm that has recently identified a protein in humans with a previously unknown role: SIRal, derived from a bacterial domain known as "ancestral immunity." Published in Science, their research reveals a biological conservation principle that opens up new avenues in immunotherapy by identifying a new type of therapeutic target based on bacterial evolution itself.

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