A much higher prevalence of some inherited human diseases is reported in Greek Calabria with respect to other parts of Italy. This is true also for a specific group of genetic disorders due to defects in one or more components of the immune system known as Primary ImmunoDeficiencies (PID).2
The theme of PID prevention is at the center of the training for doctors and biologists developed by the Calabri Vagantes through two courses:
- • the first in English which took place in Reggio Calabria in the fall of 2018
- • the second in Italian which, due to the Covid-19 pandemia, took place remotely from 7 November to 18 December 2020.
These two courses gave birth to another project, this time not for training but instead in the field of biomedical research, which has been recently funded by the Italian Ministry of Education and Economic Development (see below). This project will take place from 2021 to 2023 mainly in the two cities of the Strait (Messina and Reggio).
Note1
The population of Greek Calabria has been the subject of linguistic and archaeological and more recent genetic studies for more than a century. All these studies agree in attributing the origins of the population of Greek Calabria to migrations that largely predate the era of classical Greece (i.e. the age of Pericles).
Note 2
Genetic mutations associated with PID are now also studied in relation to the minor or greater individual resistance to the Covid-19 pandemic, which makes the population of Greek Calabria particularly interesting for this type of research.
The population of Greek Calabria (http://calabriagreca.eu) is part of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria and has been the subject of linguistic studies for more than a century (G. Rolphs, Lexicon Graecanicum Italiae Inferioris, 1964) archaeological (www.arch.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/bova-marina) and more recently genetic (Sarno, S. et al. Nature Sci. Rep. 2021 - Genetic history of Calabrian Greeks reveals ancient events and long term isolation in the Aspromonte area of Southern Italy - February 2021).
All these studies agree in attributing the origins of the population of Greek Calabria to migrations that largely predates the era of classical Greece (i.e. the age of Pericles).
From a medical point of view, Greek Calabria is characterized by a much higher prevalence than in other parts of Italy of a group of hereditary diseases due to defects in one or more components of the immune system called primary immunodeficiencies (PID) that make patients very sensitive to different types of infections.
Each PID individual offers a unique opportunity to study the genetic causes and mechanisms that lead to the development of autoimmune and autoinflammatory disorders.
The best known of these diseases is the Mediterranean Familial Fever (FMF) diagnosed in Calabria and Sicily (along with other Recurrent Periodic Fevers) much more frequently than in other Italian regions.
Every single PID (such as FMF) offers unique opportunities to discover the genetic causes and mechanisms that lead to the onset of autoimmune and complex autoinflammatory disorders.
Genetic mutations associated with PID are now also studied in relation to the lower or greater individual resistance to the Covid-19 pandemic, which makes the population of Greek Calabria particularly interesting for this type of research.
That said, the theme of PID is at the center of the training for doctors and biologists developed by the Calabri Vagantes network in Reggio Calabria starting from 2018 through two courses. The first was in English, the second in Italian. The latter has taken place remotely from 7 November to 18 December 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemia.
It is interesting to note some ideas discussed during the first of these courses led to a research project on autism (see project 2), which now unites the two sides of the Straits.
It is anticipated that the training courses will continue hopefully "in presence" and in Calabria in collaboration with the three Calabrian Universities (Catanzaro, Cosenza and Reggio Calabria).