Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the etiologic agent of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Clinical manifestations of the disease range from an asymptomatic condition to lifethreatening events and death, with more severe courses being associated with age, male sex, and comorbidities. Besides these risk factors, intrinsic characteristics of the virus as well as genetic factors of the host are expected to account for COVID-19 clinical heterogeneity.Genetic studies have long been recognized as fundamental to identify biological mechanisms underlying congenital diseases, to pinpoint genes/proteins responsible for the susceptibility to different inherited conditions, to highlight targets of therapeutic relevance, to suggest drug repurposing, and even to clarify causal relationships that make modifiable some environmental risk factors. Though these studies usually take long time to be concluded and, above all, to translate their discoveries to patients' bedside, the scientific community moved really fast to deliver genetic signals underlying different COVID-19 phenotypes.In this Review, besides a concise description of COVID-19 symptomatology and of SARS-CoV-2 mechanism of infection, we aimed to recapitulate the current literature in terms of host genetic factors that specifically associate with an increased severity of the disease.

Genetic susceptibility to severe COVID-19

Paraboschi, Elvezia Maria;Asselta, Rosanna
2023-01-01

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the etiologic agent of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Clinical manifestations of the disease range from an asymptomatic condition to lifethreatening events and death, with more severe courses being associated with age, male sex, and comorbidities. Besides these risk factors, intrinsic characteristics of the virus as well as genetic factors of the host are expected to account for COVID-19 clinical heterogeneity.Genetic studies have long been recognized as fundamental to identify biological mechanisms underlying congenital diseases, to pinpoint genes/proteins responsible for the susceptibility to different inherited conditions, to highlight targets of therapeutic relevance, to suggest drug repurposing, and even to clarify causal relationships that make modifiable some environmental risk factors. Though these studies usually take long time to be concluded and, above all, to translate their discoveries to patients' bedside, the scientific community moved really fast to deliver genetic signals underlying different COVID-19 phenotypes.In this Review, besides a concise description of COVID-19 symptomatology and of SARS-CoV-2 mechanism of infection, we aimed to recapitulate the current literature in terms of host genetic factors that specifically associate with an increased severity of the disease.
2023
COVID-19
Genetics
Genome-wide association study
Mutation
SARS-CoV-2
Severity
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11699/80955
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 17
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 13
social impact