Whether or not a person becomes seriously ill with COVID-19 depends, among other things, on genetic factors. With this in mind, researchers investigated a particularly large group of affected individuals.
They confirmed the central and already known role of the TLR7 gene in severe courses of the disease in men, but were also able to find evidence for a contribution of the gene in women. In addition, they were able to show that genetic changes in three other genes of the innate immune system contribute to severe COVID-19.
In addition to many possible reasons such as increased age or pre-existing conditions, some people's own genetic make-up can cause a severe course of the disease. Early work in the pandemic had already identified affected genes, most of which are involved in the innate immune response. The gene with the strongest evidence to date is the TLR7 gene, which was identified as the cause of the disease in two pairs of Dutch brothers with severe cases back in summer 2020.
In addition to the University Hospital Bonn and the University of Bonn, the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, the Humanitas University Milan and the University Hospital Radboudumc were also centrally involved. The major genetic risk variant for severe COVID-19, one we inherited from Neandertals, is surprisingly common. A new study shows that the same gene variant that increases the risk of falling ...
Genes Human Biology Personalized Medicine Gene Therapy Diseases And Conditions Medical Topics Infectious Diseases
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