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Scientists Discover 13 Mystery People With Superhuman DNA

Trending News: Incredible DNA Protects These People From Debilitating Diseases

Why Is This Important?

Because besides sounding like the plot of a cool sci-fi movie, this could have massive implications for the treatment of serious diseases.

Long Story Short

By studying the genetic material of individuals whose makeup may hold keys to understanding and treating childhood diseases, researchers have found the scientific equivalent of a needle in a haystack — well, more like 13 needles. Scientists have found a baker’s dozen among more than half a million people who are carrying the genetic markers for diseases like cystic fibrosis. The kicker? They show none of the symptoms.

Long Story

Scientists combed through 589,306 samples of genetic material submitted by healthy adults and found at least some of what they were looking for: mutations that lead to severe diseases that manifest themselves in childhood.

What didn't the researchers find in those lucky 13? Any symptoms of disease.

Because the material was submitted to commercial genetic companies anonymously, the 30 scientists taking part in the study don’t know who the 13 lucky people are. But by studying their genetic components, they are hoping to learn something about what helped them beat their inherited odds of developing crippling, often fatal illnesses early in their lives.

Basically, these mystery superhumans are like Bruce Willis' character in the movie Unbreakable.

The authors of the report published in the Nature Biotechnology journal are speculating that there are other genetic markers in their DNA that limit or otherwise halt the consequences of the harmful mutation. Environmental factors may be involved as well.

But if further research concludes there is a genetic key to stopping the manifestation of those diseases, there could be profound repercussions in how those diseases are treated.

According to the report’s co-author Eric Schadt of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, “Most genetic studies focus on finding the cause of a disease, but we see tremendous opportunity in figuring out what keeps people healthy. Millions of years of evolution have produced far more protective mechanisms than we currently understand.

“Characterizing the intricacies of our genomes will ultimately reveal elements that could promote health in ways we haven’t imagined.”

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question: How can this research mitigate some of the more horrendous genetic diseases out there?

Disrupt Your Feed: Let’s find these 13 people and make a comic book out of them.

Drop This Fact: Cystic fibrosis is the most common fatal genetic disease, with about 30,000 cases in the United States.

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