Over the past 35 years, scientists have made several curious discoveries about Huntington’s disease. First, individuals with the neurological disorder are less likely than others to suffer from cancer; second, they tend to have more children than average-about 1.24 children for every one child born to unaffected siblings. Although no one yet knows what is behind these seemingly unconnected findings, a group at Tufts University has proposed that they are linked-and that one of the proteins implicated in Huntington’s may, ironically, provide patients with subtle health benefits.

Des scientifiques ont établi que les personnes souffrant de la Chorée de Huntington ont à la fois moins de cancer et plus d’enfants que les autres, ce qui les a poussés à imaginer que cette maladie donnait un avantage sélectif à ceux qu’elles touchaient. Ce n’est pas surprenant en soi, car, cela permet d’expliquer que cette maladie héréditaire n’ait pas disparu.

Source : Scientific American.