Genetic Resistance to Infectious Diseases in the Era of Personalized Medicine

Abstract

Individual particularities of resistance to pathogens have been the focus of clinicians and researchers for centuries. Several theories and concepts were formulated to explain this phenomenon. They include the immunological theory of infectious diseases, the genetic theory of infectious diseases, the concept of latent and asymptomatic infection, monogenic and polygenic type of inheritance of resistance to pathogens and a number of others [1]. Nowadays, most of these concepts are reflected in the modern theory called “A Unified Genetic theory of infection disease”. The theory assumes that at an early age susceptibility to pathogenic microorganisms is caused by inherited variants of genes, while in adults features of a disease course depend on the total action of several genetic loci. In elderly people, a special role in the initiation and development of infectious disease plays somatic mutations [2]. In this regard, recently developed methodological approaches to wide genome analysis allow us to hope for a significant expansion of our understanding of genetic resistance to infectious diseases at both individual and population levels.