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Review
. 2020 Dec 30;13(1):45.
doi: 10.3390/v13010045.

Markers Associated with COVID-19 Susceptibility, Resistance, and Severity

Aisha D Fakhroo  1 , Asmaa A Al Thani  2 , Hadi M Yassine  2
Affiliations
Review

Markers Associated with COVID-19 Susceptibility, Resistance, and Severity

Aisha D Fakhroo et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

In December 2019, the latest member of the coronavirus family, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), emerged in Wuhan, China, leading to the outbreak of an unusual viral pneumonia known as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). COVID-19 was then declared as a pandemic in March 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO). The initial mortality rate of COVID-19 declared by WHO was 2%; however, this rate has increased to 3.4% as of 3 March 2020. People of all ages can be infected with SARS-CoV-2, but those aged 60 or above and those with underlying medical conditions are more prone to develop severe symptoms that may lead to death. Patients with severe infection usually experience a hyper pro-inflammatory immune reaction (i.e., cytokine storm) causing acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which has been shown to be the leading cause of death in COVID-19 patients. However, the factors associated with COVID-19 susceptibility, resistance and severity remain poorly understood. In this review, we thoroughly explore the correlation between various host, viral and environmental markers, and SARS-CoV-2 in terms of susceptibility and severity.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS; pathogenesis; resistance; susceptibility.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Possible effect of comorbidities on epigenetic regulation of angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). All of the figures were created with BioRender.com.
Figure 2
Figure 2
A possible mechanism for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) inhibition by blood type O. Anti-A antibodies present in blood type O individuals inhibit the interaction between the S protein of SARS-CoV-2 and ACE2 receptor in host cells. All of the figures were created with BioRender.com.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Factors affecting the clinical severity of COVID-19. All of the figures were created with BioRender.com.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Factors affecting susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection. All of the figures were created with BioRender.com.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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