Cargando…

How Genetics Might Explain the Unusual Link Between Malaria and COVID-19

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-associated coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been the subject of a large number of studies in recent times. Here, starting from the evidence that in Italy, the areas with the lowest number of COVID-19 cases were those with t...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Rusmini, Marta, Uva, Paolo, Amoroso, Antonio, Tolomeo, Manlio, Cavalli, Andrea
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8107224/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33981715
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2021.650231
_version_ 1783689912235589632
author Rusmini, Marta
Uva, Paolo
Amoroso, Antonio
Tolomeo, Manlio
Cavalli, Andrea
author_facet Rusmini, Marta
Uva, Paolo
Amoroso, Antonio
Tolomeo, Manlio
Cavalli, Andrea
author_sort Rusmini, Marta
collection PubMed
description Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-associated coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been the subject of a large number of studies in recent times. Here, starting from the evidence that in Italy, the areas with the lowest number of COVID-19 cases were those with the highest incidence of malaria in the early 1900's, we explore possible inverse relationships between malaria and COVID-19. Indeed, some genetic variants, which have been demonstrated to give an advantage against malaria, can also play a role in the incidence and severity of SARS-CoV-2 infections (e.g., the ACE2 receptor). To verify this scientific hypothesis, we here use public data from whole-genome sequencing (WGS) experiments to extrapolate the genetic information of 46 world populations with matched COVID-19 data. In particular, we focus on 47 genes, including ACE2 and genes which have previously been reported to play a role in malaria. Only common variants (>5%) in at least 30% of the selected populations were considered, and, for this subset, we correlate the intra-population allele frequency with the COVID-19 data (cases/million inhabitants), eventually pinpointing meaningful variants in 6 genes. This study allows us to distinguish between positive and negative correlations, i.e., variants whose frequency significantly increases with increasing or decreasing COVID-19 cases. Finally, we discuss the possible molecular mechanisms associated with these variants and advance potential therapeutic options, which may help fight and/or prevent COVID-19.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8107224
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-81072242021-05-11 How Genetics Might Explain the Unusual Link Between Malaria and COVID-19 Rusmini, Marta Uva, Paolo Amoroso, Antonio Tolomeo, Manlio Cavalli, Andrea Front Med (Lausanne) Medicine Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-associated coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been the subject of a large number of studies in recent times. Here, starting from the evidence that in Italy, the areas with the lowest number of COVID-19 cases were those with the highest incidence of malaria in the early 1900's, we explore possible inverse relationships between malaria and COVID-19. Indeed, some genetic variants, which have been demonstrated to give an advantage against malaria, can also play a role in the incidence and severity of SARS-CoV-2 infections (e.g., the ACE2 receptor). To verify this scientific hypothesis, we here use public data from whole-genome sequencing (WGS) experiments to extrapolate the genetic information of 46 world populations with matched COVID-19 data. In particular, we focus on 47 genes, including ACE2 and genes which have previously been reported to play a role in malaria. Only common variants (>5%) in at least 30% of the selected populations were considered, and, for this subset, we correlate the intra-population allele frequency with the COVID-19 data (cases/million inhabitants), eventually pinpointing meaningful variants in 6 genes. This study allows us to distinguish between positive and negative correlations, i.e., variants whose frequency significantly increases with increasing or decreasing COVID-19 cases. Finally, we discuss the possible molecular mechanisms associated with these variants and advance potential therapeutic options, which may help fight and/or prevent COVID-19. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-04-26 /pmc/articles/PMC8107224/ /pubmed/33981715 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2021.650231 Text en Copyright © 2021 Rusmini, Uva, Amoroso, Tolomeo and Cavalli. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Medicine
Rusmini, Marta
Uva, Paolo
Amoroso, Antonio
Tolomeo, Manlio
Cavalli, Andrea
How Genetics Might Explain the Unusual Link Between Malaria and COVID-19
title How Genetics Might Explain the Unusual Link Between Malaria and COVID-19
title_full How Genetics Might Explain the Unusual Link Between Malaria and COVID-19
title_fullStr How Genetics Might Explain the Unusual Link Between Malaria and COVID-19
title_full_unstemmed How Genetics Might Explain the Unusual Link Between Malaria and COVID-19
title_short How Genetics Might Explain the Unusual Link Between Malaria and COVID-19
title_sort how genetics might explain the unusual link between malaria and covid-19
topic Medicine
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8107224/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33981715
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2021.650231
work_keys_str_mv AT rusminimarta howgeneticsmightexplaintheunusuallinkbetweenmalariaandcovid19
AT uvapaolo howgeneticsmightexplaintheunusuallinkbetweenmalariaandcovid19
AT amorosoantonio howgeneticsmightexplaintheunusuallinkbetweenmalariaandcovid19
AT tolomeomanlio howgeneticsmightexplaintheunusuallinkbetweenmalariaandcovid19
AT cavalliandrea howgeneticsmightexplaintheunusuallinkbetweenmalariaandcovid19