Detecting the type of gene that causes hand, foot and mouth disease

Hand, foot and mouth disease and its dangerous complications actually refer to a gene found in everyone.

Recently, a study has discovered a key gene that causes infection of hand, foot and mouth disease. According to South China Morning Post, Hong Kong University's leading microbiologist Professor Yuen Kwok-yung determined that hWARS is a receptor that allows enterovirus-A71 (EV-A71) to enter the cell and cause disease. Hand, foot and mouth.

Being present in everyone's cells, the hWARS gene has traditionally been thought to be a normal, harmless gene."Now we begin to understand why some patients have such serious complications," Professor Yuen said.

One patient had hand, foot and mouth disease.(Photo: VI).

EV-A71 is one of the viruses that can lead to hand, foot and mouth disease - a common disease in children. Patients often lead to fever, small red spots, blisters on the tongue, gums and inside the cheeks.

According to the Hong Kong Health Protection Center, the peak season of hand, foot and mouth disease is from early summer to autumn, or a small outbreak in winter.

In his research with his colleagues, Professor Yuen found that people with hWARS stopped working when invasive viruses often did not have hand, foot and mouth disease. In contrast, people with hWARS genes are still at high risk of developing the disease.

Besides EV-A71, the diseases caused by eight different viruses are also significantly prevented when the hWARS gene stops working. The researchers also found that when the human body makes a protein called interferon gamma during infection, the number of hWARS will increase, making EV-A71 easier to penetrate into cells.

"The body makes interferon gamma protein to control viruses. But the virus has taken advantage of this protein as a nutrient for them, increasing the number of viruses means easier access , " Yuen said. solution.

The study also demonstrated that the use of intravenous immunoglobulin to treat serious complications of hand, foot and mouth disease is now accurate. Although the invention of the current direct hand-to-mouth medicine is not possible, researchers still hope to be able to develop a hWARS-blocking drug to reduce the risk of intracellular virus infection. Next 10 years.