October 21, 2022
Bulletin interne de l'Institut Pasteur
The Black Death is believed to have shaped the evolution of immunity genes, setting the course for how we respond to autoimmune diseases today
Scientists from the Institut Pasteur, McMaster University and the University of Chicago have identified genes that provided protection against the devastating bubonic plague pandemic that swept through Europe, Asia and Africa nearly 700 years ago. The same genes that once conferred protection against the Black Death are today associated with an increased susceptibility to autoimmune diseases. The study has been published in the journal Nature.