{"id":36694,"date":"2019-10-18T08:14:08","date_gmt":"2019-10-18T08:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/?p=36694"},"modified":"2019-10-18T16:03:02","modified_gmt":"2019-10-18T16:03:02","slug":"science-journal-retracts-article-linking-ccr5-deletion-to-reduced-life-expectancy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/36694","title":{"rendered":"Science journal retracts article linking CCR5 deletion to reduced life expectancy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richard Jefferys, TAG<\/strong><\/p>\n

In June 2019, a short paper was\u00a0published in the journal\u00a0<\/em>Nature Medicine<\/em>\u00a0reporting that individuals homozygous for the CCR5-\u220632 mutation showed a 21% increase in the rate of all-cause mortality compared to those without the mutation (or heterozygotes, who inherit the mutation from one parent). [1]<\/strong><\/p>\n

The senior author, Rasmus Nielsen,\u00a0stated to the\u00a0Wall Street Journal\u00a0that this would equate to a nearly two-year shortening of lifespan on average. [2]<\/p>\n

The findings were the subject of hundreds of media articles, largely because they came on the heels of a\u00a0misguided and completely unethical experiment\u00a0in which the CCR5 gene was edited in two embryos, leading to the birth of genetically altered twins. [3]<\/p>\n

Questions were also raised about possible\u00a0relevance to HIV cure research studies\u00a0that attempt to ablate CCR5 expression with gene therapies. [4]<\/p>\n

Yesterday,<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>Nature Medicine\u00a0published a notice\u00a0that the paper has been retracted. [5]<\/p>\n

News that the retraction was imminent\u00a0emerged two weeks ago\u00a0in an article by Rebecca Robbins for\u00a0STAT News<\/em>,<\/em> after Nielsen\u00a0tweeted an acknowledgement\u00a0that a major error had been found. [7]<\/p>\n

The original analysis was based on data from the UK Biobank, and it turned out that a technical artifact meant that individuals homozygous for the CCR5-\u220632 mutation were underrepresented in the data (the problem is outlined in a\u00a0paper available on the bioRxiv preprint server). [8]<\/p>\n

These developments do not necessarily mean that homozygosity for the CCR5-\u220632 mutation is entirely benign; a number of published reports have suggested an association with impaired responses to certain infectious diseases (particularly\u00a0West Nile Virus, and possibly\u00a0influenza\u00a0as well). [9, 10]<\/p>\n

Also, previously unappreciated roles of the CCR5 receptor continue to be identified, such as the\u00a0promotion of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell regeneration\u00a0after radiation treatment. [11] But, after this retraction, there is no evidence (at least as yet) that any negative effects of the CCR5-\u220632 mutation add up to a reduced life expectancy for homozygous individuals.<\/p>\n

Source<\/p>\n

Jefferys R. Widely publicised report associating the CCR5-\u039432 mutation with reduced longevity is retracted. TAB Basic Science Blog. (09 Oct 2019).
\nhttps:\/\/tagbasicscienceproject.typepad.com\/tags_basic_science_vaccin\/2019\/10\/widely-publicized-report-associating-the-ccr5-%CE%B432-mutation-with-reduced-longevity-is-retracted.html<\/a><\/p>\n

References<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Wei X, Nielsen R. CCR5-\u220632 is deleterious in the homozygous state in humans. Brief Communication. Nature 2019: 25; 909\u2013910 (03 June 2019).
    \n    https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41591-019-0459-6<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Rana P. Study of HIV-related mutation adds to worries about first gene-edited babies (05 June 2019).
    \n    https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/study-of-hiv-related-mutation-adds-to-worries-about-first-gene-edited-babies-11559646973<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Jeffery R. Treatment Action Group statement on the reported birth of twins with edited CCR5 genes. TAG Blog. (26 November 2018).
    \n    http:\/\/www.treatmentactiongroup.org\/content\/treatment-action-group-statement-reported-birth-twins-edited-ccr5-genes<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. Sax P. Exploiting the CCR5 Receptor: Potential Avenue for HIV Cure?Medscape. Commentary. (19 \u00a0July 2019).
    \n    https:\/\/www.medscape.com\/viewarticle\/915384<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. Wei X, Nielsen R. Retraction Note: CCR5-\u220632 is deleterious in the homozygous state in Nature Medicine (2019).
    \n    https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41591-019-0637-6<\/a><\/li>\n
  6. Robbins R. STAT News. Major error undermines study suggesting change introduced in the CRISPR babies experiment shortens lives. (27 September 2019).
    \n    https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2019\/09\/27\/major-error-undermines-study-suggesting-change-introduced-in-the-crispr-babies-experiment-shortens-lives<\/a><\/li>\n
  7. Nielsen R. \u201cThe one thing that all scientists fear the most is to find out that a major result they have published was based on erroneous data. This is an event that will affect you for the rest of your scientific career.\u201d Twitter. (21 September 2019).
    \n    https:\/\/twitter.com\/ras_nielsen\/status\/1177635229768372224<\/a><\/li>\n
  8. Maier R. No statistical evidence for an effect of CCR5-\u039432 on lifespan in the UK Biobank cohort. ObioRxiv preprint server. (02 Oct 2019).
    \n    https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/787986v1<\/a><\/li>\n
  9. Glass WG et al. CCR5 deficiency increases risk of symptomatic West Nile virus infection. JEM 203 (1): 35 (17 January 2006)
    \n    http:\/\/jem.rupress.org\/content\/203\/1\/35.long<\/a><\/li>\n
  10. Falcon A et al. CCR5 deficiency predisposes to fatal outcome in influenza virus infection. Jour Gen Viro 96 (8). ()1 August 2015).
    \n    https:\/\/www.microbiologyresearch.org\/content\/journal\/jgv\/10.1099\/vir.0.000165<\/a><\/li>\n
  11. Piryani SO et al. CCR5 signaling promotes murine and human hematopoietic regeneration following ionizing radiation. Stem Cell Reports. 13 (1);76-90. (09 July 2019).
    \n    https:\/\/www.cell.com\/stem-cell-reports\/fulltext\/S2213-6711(19)30145-6<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Richard Jefferys, TAG In June 2019, a short paper was\u00a0published in the journal\u00a0Nature Medicine\u00a0reporting that individuals homozygous for the CCR5-\u220632 mutation showed a 21% increase in the rate of all-cause mortality compared to those without the mutation (or heterozygotes, who …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-basic-science-and-immunology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36694\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}