Neanderthalian Heritage

Many Europeans have a better immune protection than Africans, say biologists. Why? This would be a gift of Neanderthals … Homo sapiens sapiens that we are is also called Cro-Magnon Man. He once has a cousin, Homo sapiens neanderthalensis or Neanderthal.

The Lapedo Child

The controversial Lapedo Child asks the crucial question: was he Neanderthal / Human Hybrid? Buried for millennia in the rear of a rock-shelter in the Lapedo Valley 85 miles north of Lisbon, Portugal, archaeologists uncovered the bones of a four-year-old child, comprising the first complete Palaeolithic skeleton ever dug in Iberia.

After swearing for years that never did Cro-Magnon reproduce with Neanderthals, our dear biologists have turned to heading 180 °.

Not only do we have Neanderthal genes, but these genes are manifested in a wide range of features which seemed to have escaped all specialists until now.

We see biologists leap from one discovery to another on this beneficial relationship: two thirds of Europeans possess a new immune receptor, which was present in Neanderthals, but not in our African ancestors. An evolutionary advantage that part of the current population would still display. Led by Norbert Koch of the University of Bonn, a team of German-British researchers has published the following results.

In the columns of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, scientists expose the characteristics of this new cell receptor integrated in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC).

It is a system developed by the body to determine the elements that come from it, or what is foreign, in order to destroy pathogenic intruders. 

It is divided into two main classes: in the first, all the cells (except red blood cells) are affected. The second involves only a few cells of the immune system, responsible for presenting antigens.(macrophages, B lymphocytes, dendritic cells, etc)

In this second case, the organization must be innovative to try to sweep all the corresponding antibodies to exogenous proteins. Until then, we knew only three receivers capable of recognizing a wide range of antigens through variable regions. This time it is a fourth type just described and which, in fact, combines different subunits already known receptors.

It was named HLA- DRαDPβ . But the analysis does not stop there: it shows how Neanderthals are involved in our immune system.

Genetic sequencing suggests that these receptors are found in about two thirds of Europeans. However, it is much more rare in populations of the southern part of Africa, those of the cradle of mankind. 

For biologists, this finding suggests that the gene appeared in our species after our ancestors migrated to modern Eurasia. And then I protest loudly.

Once again the question of how and why this gene would have appeared in a part of mankind does not seem to move the scientific community. Another brick in the wall that science is building between itself and the truth … probably to protect against adverse effects of light on its building of darkness. 

The scenario of our history, that of the various migrations and population movements is perverted by science itself, choosing to rely on the moral authority of some mandarins rather than on the effectiveness of scientific method. The old theories are never compatible with advanced technology and expansion of consciousness. Each time judge his past with a view of its own. It is time to change glasses. Many other scenarios can justify the presence of this gene in certain parts of the population and not in others.

As researchers prohibit the yet credible hypothesis of  developed ancestors, they will not consider any external intervention in our genetics. For those who do not wear academic blinders, this event is needed so strong that it becomes highlighted. 

Against all odds, scientists still favor the following scenario: Neanderthals living in Eurasia, have developed this gene, which have been selected by evolutionary processes. Our modern ancestors came from Africa, lacked, but the receiver would have integrated in their genetic heritage by hybridizing with Neanderthals, because of the benefit it provides.

Thus, in a number of us, part Neanderthal helps defend ourselves against pathogenic potential. The discovery of a new immune receptor is never trivial, and the fact it is attributed to Neanderthals is interesting in more ways than one. 

In the classrooms of the sixties, the Neanderthal was shown as a kind of monkey. Then we were told that he was smarter than us because he enjoyed a larger cranial capacity than ours, which is not only ridiculous and unfounded, but also based on unreliable statistics. 

Despite his superior intelligence, we continued to represent Neanderthal as a hairy, low forehead and blank staring ape. Now we are told that we all have inherited some Neanderthal genes. All except Africans. In short, everything happens as if the Neanderthal lineage was becoming a new racist or racialist argument.

Africans will feel superior because they are less ape-like than the others, who will think superior because they have a better immunity … Until the day when the so-called immunity cause the loss of two-thirds of humanity following an unpredictable pandemic of Neanderthal origin.

Only Africans will fare, and the carousel of ages will start for another round.