Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Jan 17: A unique gene variant has been discovered that protects against severe COVID-19 infection, according to researchers. An international team lead by researchers at Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet was able to discover the mutation by researching persons of various ancestries.
The findings, which were published in the journal Nature Genetics, reveal that genes can determine whether we are badly affected by COVID-19 or merely have minor symptoms.
Individuals having a certain piece of DNA have a 20% decreased risk of developing a critical COVID-19 infection, according to previous studies focusing on persons of European heritage.
According to the researchers, this DNA fragment encodes genes in the immune system and is inherited from Neanderthals by nearly half of all individuals outside of Africa.
However, this region of DNA is densely packed with genetic variants, making it difficult to isolate the particular protective version, according to the researchers.
According to the researchers, identifying this variant could serve as a target for medical treatment against severe COVID-19 infection.
They looked for people who only had sections of this DNA segment to find this specific gene mutation.
Because Neanderthal inheritance occurred after the ancient migration out of Africa, the researchers concentrated on people of African ancestry who do not have Neanderthal heritage and hence make up the bulk of this DNA fragment.
However, a minor portion of this DNA region is shared by persons of African and European ancestry.
The researchers discovered that people with mostly African heritage had the same level of protection as people with European ancestry, allowing them to target a particular gene variant of relevance.
A total of 2,787 hospitalised COVID-19 patients of African ancestry and 130,997 participants in a control group from six cohort studies were included in the research.
According to the researchers, 80% of people of African descent carried the protective variation.
The results were compared to those of a prior, larger survey of people of European ancestry.
The protective gene variant (rs10774671-G), according to the researchers, regulates the length of the protein expressed by the gene OAS1.
The longer form of the protein has been demonstrated to be more effective at breaking down SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in previous research.
“That we are beginning to understand the genetic risk factors in detail is key to developing new drugs against COVID-19,” said study co-author Brent Richards, a professor at McGill University in Canada.