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. 2020 Nov;587(7835):610-612.
doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2818-3. Epub 2020 Sep 30.

The major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neanderthals

Hugo Zeberg  1   2 , Svante Pääbo  3   4
Affiliations

The major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neanderthals

Hugo Zeberg et al. Nature. 2020 Nov.

Abstract

A recent genetic association study1 identified a gene cluster on chromosome 3 as a risk locus for respiratory failure after infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). A separate study (COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative)2 comprising 3,199 hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and control individuals showed that this cluster is the major genetic risk factor for severe symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospitalization. Here we show that the risk is conferred by a genomic segment of around 50 kilobases in size that is inherited from Neanderthals and is carried by around 50% of people in south Asia and around 16% of people in Europe.

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References

    1. Ellinghaus, D. et al. Genomewide association study of severe COVID-19 with respiratory failure. N. Engl. J. Med. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2020283 (2020).
    1. COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative. The COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative, a global initiative to elucidate the role of host genetic factors in susceptibility and severity of the SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic. Eur. J. Hum. Genet. 28, 715–718 (2020). - DOI
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