If it's not malaria, it's a heart attack
Scientists from the California Medical University in San Diego have suggested that the loss of one gene two to three million years ago led a person to an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, and also created an additional risk for people who eat red meat.
Atherosclerosis – clogging of arteries with fatty plaques – is the cause of one third of deaths worldwide due to cardiovascular diseases. There are many risk factors, including cholesterol levels in the blood, lack of physical activity, age, hypertension, obesity and smoking, but in about 15 percent of cases of cardiovascular diseases caused by atherosclerosis for the first time, none of these factors is leading.
Ten years ago, it was revealed that coronary heart diseases caused by atherosclerosis are practically absent in other mammals, including chimpanzees living in captivity, although they have similar risk factors to humans: increased content of high-density lipoproteins in the blood, hypertension and lack of physical activity. Instead, the chimpanzees' heart attacks were caused by an as yet unexplained scarring of the heart muscle.
What's the matter? A new study has shown that mice that turned off the CMAH gene responsible for the production of Neu5Gc sialic acid had a twofold increase in atherogenesis compared to mice in which the CMAH gene remained active.
It is believed that the mutation that inactivated the CMAH gene occurred several million years ago in the ancestors of hominin humans. It is assumed that this mutation served as protection against malaria parasites that use Neu5Gc to attach to the host cell.
The loss of NeuG5c increases the risk of atherosclerosis due to a variety of mechanisms, including internal factors such as an increased inflammatory response and hyperglycemia in response to an increase in the concentration of sialic acid, which, for example, is rich in red meat, because it continues to be synthesized in other mammals.
Interestingly, the loss of the CMAH gene during evolution seems to have led to other significant changes in human physiology, such as decreased fertility and increased ability to run long distances.
The article by Kawanishi et. al Human species-specific loss of CMP-N-acetylneuraminic acid hydroxylase enhances atherosclerosis via intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms is published in the journal PNAS.
Elena Panasyuk, portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru According to UC San Diego News Center: Evolutionary Gene Loss May Help Explain Why Only Humans are Prone to Heart Attacks.