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Malaria continues to select for sickle cell trait in Central Africa

key information

source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS)

year: 2015

authors: Elguero E, Délicat-Loembet LM, Rougeron V, Arnathau C, Roche B, Becquart P, Gonzalez JP, Nkoghe D, Sica L, Leroy EM, Durand P, Ayala FJ, Ollomo B, Renaud F, Prugnolle F

summary/abstract:

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a genetic disorder that poses a serious health threat in tropical Africa, which the World Health Organization has declared a public health priority. Its persistence in human populations has been attributed to the resistance it provides to Plasmodium falciparum malaria in its heterozygous state, called sickle cell trait (SCT). Because of migration, SCT is becoming common outside tropical countries: It is now the most important genetic disorder in France, affecting one birth for every 2,400, and one of the most common in the United States. We assess the strength of the association between SCT and malaria, using current data for both SCT and malaria infections. A total of 3,959 blood samples from 195 villages distributed over the entire Republic of Gabon were analyzed. Hemoglobin variants were identified by using HPLCy (HPLC). Infections by three species of Plasmodium were detected by PCR followed by sequencing of a 201-bp fragment of cytochrome b. An increase of 10% in P. falciparum malaria prevalence is associated with an increase by 4.3% of SCT carriers. An increase of 10 y of age is associated with an increase by 5.5% of SCT carriers. Sex is not associated with SCT. These strong associations show that malaria remains a selective factor in current human populations, despite the progress of medicine and the actions undertaken to fight this disease. Our results provide evidence that evolution is still present in humans, although this is sometimes questioned by scientific, political, or religious personalities.

organization: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France; Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville, Franceville, Gabon; Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Cedex, France; METABIOTA Inc; University of California, Irvine, CA

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1505665112

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