What factors are responsible for the fact that some people become seriously ill after being infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, while others develop only mild symptoms or none at all? Scientists in an international consortium called the "COVID-19 Host Genomics Initiative" are investigating this question. In addition to smoking and obesity as risk factors for a severe course of Covid-19, the research team has also found genetic factors in the human genome that appear to play an important role. The research also included biosamples and data from the "COVID-19 cohort", which are processed and stored in the Hannover Unified Biobank (HUB). The first results from the international research network's investigations have now been published in the scientific journal Nature.
Data from Hanover for large-scale study
For the "COVID-19 Cohort", biosamples and data from patients with varying degrees of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 as well as control samples from people with other respiratory diseases from various clinics at Hannover Medical School (MHH) and Hannover Region Hospital have been collected and compared since March 2020. "The Hannover Unified Biobank fulfils the high safety requirements for processing and storing the biosamples," emphasises Professor Dr Thomas Illig, Head of the HUB. For its analysis, the COVID-19 Host Genomics Initiative has collated clinical and genetic data from almost 50,000 patients worldwide who have tested positive for the virus, as well as from two million control subjects from numerous biobanks and clinical studies.
Genetic starting points for new therapeutic strategies
"Analysis of the genetic data revealed 13 sites in the human genome that are strongly associated with infection or severe courses of Covid-19," explains Professor Dr Markus Cornberg, Deputy Director of the MHH Clinic for Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology and Director of the Centre for Individualised Infection Medicine (CiiM), who is responsible for the clinical processing of the samples stored at the HUB. Some of these gene loci are apparently also associated with autoimmune diseases, lung cancer or pulmonary fibrosis, a pathological proliferation of connective tissue, which then hardens and scars (fibrosis) and leads to shortness of breath. "These results could help to find targets for future therapies," says the infectiologist. And this is urgently needed: although vaccines offer protection against infection with SARS-CoV-2, there is still considerable room for improvement in Covid-19 treatment.
Source: The original version of this text was published as a press release by Hannover Medical School (MHH).
Picture credits: Karin Kaiser/MHH
Scientific publication
COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative. Mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19. Nature (2021). doi. org/10.1038/s41586-021-03767-x