The five genes that may make you more likely to die from Covid-19

11 December 2020

Scientists have discovered five genes which increase the chances of a Covid-19 patient being placed on a ventilator and dying.

UK researchers said their work, published in the journal Nature, sheds light on the mechanisms that underpin severe coronavirus symptoms and could lead to potential new drug treatments for the disease.

The researchers said that the proportion of risk – the overall chance of becoming critically ill with Covid-19 – associated with the genetic variants is estimated to be around 6.5%.

They said that this is far less when compared to other known Covid-19 risk factors, such as age.

Dr Kenneth Baillie, the project’s chief investigator and senior research fellow at University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute, said: “This is a stunning realisation of the promise of human genetics to help understand critical illness.

“Just like in sepsis and influenza – in Covid-19 – damage to the lungs is caused by our own immune system, rather than the virus itself.

“Our genetic results provide a roadmap through the complexity of immune signals, showing the route to key drug targets.

“Our results immediately highlight which drugs should be at the top of the list for clinical testing.

“We can only test a few drugs at a time, so making the right choices will save thousands of lives.”

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Dr Baillie took DNA data from on 2,244 critically ill patients with Covid-19 from 208 intensive care units (ICU) in the UK.

These are the most severe cases of Covid, and 22 per cent of patients studied died, with 74 per cent unable to breathe on their own and needing mechanical ventilation

The team found that variations in five genes – IFNAR2, TYK2, OAS1, DPP9 and CCR2 – was associated with the development of severe illness in Covid-19 patients.

The scientists said that they were able to pinpoint two molecular processes – antiviral immunity and lung inflammation – associated with the genes.

But the team said the research was not aimed at predicting who is likely to get critically ill with Covid-19 but focuses more on finding “biological clues that will lead us to effective treatments”.

The is because some patients with particular genetic variants are able to respond to certain drugs and the researchers believe genetic evidence could be used as a way to tell which treatments will be effective in a disease.

For example, they said, drugs that reduce the activity of the TYK2 gene could also help protect against Covid-19.

The team said further clinical trials should focus on drugs that target specific antiviral and anti-inflammatory pathways.

Dr David Strain, clinical senior lecturer at the University of Exeter, described the research as “incredibly interesting”.

But he added that the implications for the findings are limited, saying: “These data are useful for predicting those that are at risk, however the majority of us do not know what our genes look like.