The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 271 No 7270 p484
11 October 2003

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Hepatitis A offers asthma protection

Exposure to hepatitis A virus (HAV) may protect some people from asthma and other atopic diseases, according to American researchers. They found that people who carry a variant of the gene that encodes TIM-1 (the cell-surface receptor used by HAV to infect human cells) are protected against allergic disease. They suggest that the altered version of the gene may enable the virus to enter cells more efficiently and thereby influence the allergic response. The researchers add that their finding could provide a molecular explanation to the suspected link between atopic disease and hygiene (Nature 2003;425:576).