{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,26]],"date-time":"2025-11-26T15:54:13Z","timestamp":1764172453777,"version":"3.37.3"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","issue":"R1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,18]],"date-time":"2021-01-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1610928000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/journals\/pages\/open_access\/funder_policies\/chorus\/standard_publication_model"}],"funder":[{"name":"FCT and Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology","award":["SFRH\/BD\/136299\/2018","SFRH\/BD\/145217\/2019"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SFRH\/BD\/136299\/2018","SFRH\/BD\/145217\/2019"]}]},{"name":"FEDER\u2014Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional funds"},{"name":"Institute for Research and Innovation in Health Sciences","award":["POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007274"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007274"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,26]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n               <jats:p>Sub-Saharan Africa is the most promising region of the world to conduct high-throughput studies to unveil adaptations to infectious diseases due to several reasons, namely, the longest evolving time-depth in the Homo sapiens phylogenetic tree (at least two-third older than any other worldwide region); the continuous burden of infectious diseases (still number one in health\/life threat); and the coexistence of populations practising diverse subsistence modes (nomadic or seminomadic hunter-gatherers and agropastoralists, and sedentary agriculturalists, small urban and megacity groups). In this review, we will present the most up-to-date results that shed light on three main hypotheses related with this adaptation. One is the hypothesis of coevolution between host and pathogen, given enough time for the establishment of this highly dynamic relationship. The second hypothesis enunciates that the agricultural transition was responsible for the increase of the infectious disease burden, due to the huge expansion of the sedentary human population and the cohabitation with domesticates as main reservoirs of pathogens. The third hypothesis states that the boosting of our immune system against pathogens by past selection may have resulted in maladaptation of the developed hygienic societies, leading to an increase of allergic, inflammatory and autoimmune disorders. Further work will enlighten the biological mechanisms behind these main adaptations, which can be insightful for translation into diagnosis, prognosis and treatment interventions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1093\/hmg\/ddab001","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,5]],"date-time":"2021-01-05T20:58:09Z","timestamp":1609880289000},"page":"R138-R145","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Sub-Saharan African information potential to unveil adaptations to infectious disease"],"prefix":"10.1093","volume":"30","author":[{"given":"Nicole","family":"Pedro","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"i3S-Instituto de Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o e Inova\u00e7\u00e3o em Sa\u00fade, Universidade do Porto, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"IPATIMUP - Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular, Universidade do Porto, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"ICBAS - Instituto de Ci\u00eancias Biom\u00e9dicas Abel Salazar, Universidade do Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Ricardo J","family":"Pinto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"i3S-Instituto de Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o e Inova\u00e7\u00e3o em Sa\u00fade, Universidade do Porto, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"IPATIMUP - Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular, Universidade do Porto, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"ICBAS - Instituto de Ci\u00eancias Biom\u00e9dicas Abel Salazar, Universidade do Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Bruno","family":"Cavadas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"i3S-Instituto de Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o e Inova\u00e7\u00e3o em Sa\u00fade, Universidade do Porto, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"IPATIMUP - Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular, Universidade do Porto, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4271-1527","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luisa","family":"Pereira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"i3S-Instituto de Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o e Inova\u00e7\u00e3o em Sa\u00fade, Universidade do Porto, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"IPATIMUP - Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular, Universidade do Porto, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal"}]}],"member":"286","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"2021042610550778600_ref1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"405","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-genom-083117-021759","article-title":"Tales of human migration, admixture, and selection in Africa","volume":"19","author":"Schlebusch","year":"2018","journal-title":"Annu. 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