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Transposons (“jumping genes”)
Macrophages are a type of white blood cell which helps fight disease by finding and destroying pathogens. In people with hemochromatosis, macrophages have less iron than usual, which prevents pathogens from gaining access to that iron and growing stronger. This adaptation, Moalem argues, proved advantageous during the Black Plague.
Macrophage Quotes in Survival of the Sickest
The Survival of the Sickest quotes below are all either spoken by Macrophage or refer to Macrophage. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1
Quotes
Our relationship with iron is much more complex than it’s been considered traditionally. It’s essential—but it also provides a proverbial leg up to just about every biological threat to our lives. […] Parasites hunt us for our iron; cancer cells thrive on our iron. Finding, controlling, and using iron is the game of life. For bacteria, fungi, and protozoa, human blood and tissue are an iron gold mine. Add too much iron to the human system and you may just be loading up the buffet table.
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Then, in 1347, the plague begins its march across Europe. People who have the hemochromatosis mutation are especially resistant to infection because of their iron-starved macrophages. So, though it will kill them decades later, they are much more likely than people without hemochromatosis to survive the plague, reproduce, and pass the mutation on to their children. In a population where most people don’t survive until middle age, a genetic trait that will kill you when you get there but increases your chance of arriving is—well, something to ask for.
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Macrophage Term Timeline in Survival of the Sickest
The timeline below shows where the term Macrophage appears in Survival of the Sickest. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: Ironing It Out
...the body. While most cells end up with too much iron, white blood cells called macrophages have much less iron than others. Macrophages work like the law enforcement of the immune...
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In a non-hemochromatic person, macrophages have plenty of iron, and infectious agents can use that iron to feed and multiply....
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