Covid and genes
Genome regions associated with severe Covid-19 have been found
Maria Azarova, Naked Science
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, scientists are haunted by the question: why do some people who have fallen ill with Covid-19 experience no symptoms at all and almost imperceptibly carry the infection, while others require emergency medical care, up to resuscitation and ventilation? Researchers have proposed enough hypotheses, identifying dozens of factors responsible for the severe course of the disease, among which – belonging to the male sex, the presence of chronic diseases, overweight, old age, and so on. Now long-standing guesses have been confirmed: genes are also responsible for vulnerability to SARS-CoV-2.
The staff of the Institute of Molecular Medicine of Finland at the University of Helsinki, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard presented some conclusions of the large-scale Covid-19 Host Genomics Initiative, launched last spring, studying the human genome in the context of the coronavirus pandemic and bringing together over three thousand specialists from 25 countries. Preliminary results are published in the journal Nature (Mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19).
Scientists analyzed the genetic material of 49,562 residents of 19 different states with confirmed Covid-19 and two million healthy people, data on which was taken from numerous biobanks, clinical studies and from genetic companies such as 23andMe. The aim was to determine which fragments of human DNA correlate with a severe form of coronavirus infection.
As a result, it was possible to identify 13 loci significant for the entire genome – the locations of a certain gene on the DNA helix – that are associated with infection or severe manifestations of COVID-19. Some of them correspond to pulmonary or autoimmune and inflammatory diseases for which scientists have previously shown a connection with Covid-19. Of the 13 loci, two were more common among patients of East Asian or South Asian origin than among the European population.
The researchers pay attention to the locus of the FOXP4 gene, variations of which are associated with both lung cancer and severe Covid-19. Therefore, its inhibition may be part of the treatment. Variants of the ABO, SLC6A20, TYK2 and DPP9 genes also correlated with the course of infection. Other genes, according to scientists, are located at the as yet unexplored loci of the third and other chromosomes, their role has not yet been determined.
Of course, not every identified locus was responsible for vulnerability to the coronavirus. Therefore, it will take time to find a definitive explanation of how the virus and human DNA relate. As new information becomes available, the authors of the project plan to update the results, and as a result, the Covid-19 Host Genomics Initiative should help determine goals for future treatments and demonstrate the power of genetic research in the study of infectious diseases.
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