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SURYAKEPRI.COM – Researchers have identified a version of the gene that doubles a person’s risk of developing severe COVID-19 and increases the risk of dying from the disease for people under 60.
The LZTFL1 gene is involved in the regulation of lung cells in response to infection. When the at-risk version of the gene is present, the cells lining the lungs don’t seem to do much to protect themselves from infection with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
The version of the gene that increases the risk of COVID-19 is found in 60 percent of people of South Asian descent, 15 percent of people of European descent, 2.4 percent of people of African descent, and 1.8 percent of people of East Asian descent.
“This is one of the more common genetic signals, so it is by far the most important genetic hit in Covid,” said James Davies, a professor of genomics at the University of Oxford and one of the leaders of the new study.
Increase Risk
No single gene can explain every aspect of a person’s risk of a disease like Covid-19. Many factors play a role, Davies told Live Science.
These include age, other health conditions, and socioeconomic status, which can affect how much exposure to the virus a person faces and the quality of health care they receive if they are sick.
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India, for example, faced a hospital situation that was overwhelmed during the Delta wave, and the country has a high prevalence of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, which play a large role in the death rate of its population.
But the risky version of LZTFL1 seems to have had a notable impact. In comparison, every decade between the ages of 20 and 60 doubles a person’s risk of developing severe COVID-19.
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