Discovering 'Superman DNA' protects people from disease

American scientists claim to find individuals with the disease gene still perfectly healthy, similar to superhero characters.

"Millions of years of evolution have created more defense mechanisms than we know," said Dr. Eric Schadt from Icahn School of Medicine, New York (USA). Superhero possesses extraordinary power thanks to the mutant gene that is not only a familiar topic of movies and comics, but now also proved to be true.

Superhero possesses extraordinary power thanks to mutant genes not only in movies.(Photo: BBC).

According to the BBC, Dr. Schadt and his colleagues examined DNA information of 589,306 volunteers and found 13 completely healthy people despite carrying genes related to 8 genetic diseases including cystic fibrosis, Smith-Lemli syndrome- Opitz, atomic nervous system disorders, bullous epidermal glasses, Pfeiffer syndrome, autoimmune Polyendocrinopathy syndrome, campomelic dysplasia and osteoarthritis. They should have been sick or even died at birth but still live normally.

"Finding such individuals is the beginning of other studies, such as developing new treatments," said Professor Stephen Friend of the authors group. However, scientists cannot reach 13 people because the agreement does not include a DNA re-license license. That means there's no way to know what protects 13 "superheroes" from illness.

Without giving up, the research team announced it would implement a new project to detect more individuals with mutant genes, hoping to find a way to prevent diseases such as inflammation and dementia. Dr. Matthew Hurles from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute said: "This can raise moral-related questions. Personally, if you own the mutant gene, I will be willing to share it to help others not get sick ".